Shattered
by feisty firecracker
Summary: Ever wonder why Sirius never had a girlfriend or a wife? Maybe he just never found his perfect match before he was chucked in Azkaban. But maybe it was something more...formerly 'a week in the life of the marauders'. ON HIATUS: considering putting it up for adoption, send me a PM if you're interested!
1. Potions Class

**Soooo, just another normal week in the lives of the Marauders, right? Wrong. There's a new girl at Hogwarts, and she's caught Sirius' eye. Too bad she doesn't feel the same way about him. Or does she?**

**disclaimer: i own none of the harry potter characters whose names you recognize. they are jk rowlings. i am however the king of cheese.**

**Chapter 1**

Sirius leaned his chair back on it's hind legs and gazed boredly at the ceiling. He turned to look at James, who was also staring at the stone ceiling of the dungeon where their potions class was held. Noticing that Peter was still feverishly working on his potion, he caught James' eye and winked. James grinned and propped his chair up too, then both he and Sirius let their chairs fall down with a deafening bang. Peter squeaked as he slopped his potion over the sides of the cauldron, and other people in the room let out frustrated yells as they too were startled by the noise.

"Nice one," James grinned appreciatively.

"You read my mind," Sirius replied, grinning broadly.

"Now boys, you need to behave yourselves. The other students still need to finish their work," Professor Slughorn said, sounding amused.

"Yes, Professor," James and Sirius said in unison, their faces cracking into evil grins the moment Slughorn turned his back.

"What're you lot up to now?" Remus said quietly from behind the book he was reading.

"Now Remus, why must we go through life, scarred by the knowledge that you always think we're planning something," Sirius said in a voice of mock hurt. "Have a little faith."

"I do have faith," Remus replied, "faith that you'll end up hexing someone…"

"When have we ever done that?" James said innocently.

Remus grinned and returned to his book. "Just make sure you get Snape good this time. The last one was pathetic."

"Oho, now we have the prefects permission," Sirius said, his voice choked with false emotion, "this is the proudest moment of my life."

"Yeah," James replied, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Snape. "What d'you think?"

Sirius didn't answer, but grinned as he turned toward Snape, drawing his wand from his pocket under the cover of the table. He flicked it in Snape's direction, then hastily stowed it back in his robes. A moment later Snape let out a yelp and jumped up from his seat.

"What'd you hit him with?" James asked as the rest of the class started snickering at Snape, who looked as if he was doing a frenzied tap dance.

"That toenail thing he got you with last week," Sirius smirked as Snape pulled out his wand and pointed it at his feet.

Remus grinned at them over the top of his book, and Peter giggled shrilly, pointing at Snape.

"Oh you really got him that time!" Peter squeaked excitedly.

"Yeah, he did," James said, bemused, "now calm down before you wet yourself, dolt."

Peter blushed, but followed James' advice and quieted down. Sirius was watching Snape closely, trying to detect if his least favourite classmate was planning on hexing him back. Satisfied that he wasn't, Sirius turned back to the table and grinned at James.

"Oh, are we going to have a fun break today," he commented, looking wistful.

"I agree," James said. "Now that this lot has got their laughs for today, I think we ought to do them a favour and wash Snivelly's hair."

"Not everyone got a laugh out of that," Remus stated, peering over his book yet again.

"Snivelly doesn't count as a person, Remus," James said impatiently.

"I wasn't talking about him. I was talking about _her_," Remus jerked his head in the direction of Lily.

James followed his gaze to see Lily looking over at their table, her face etched with dislike. He turned back to his table, grinning weakly.

"If she's really that upset about us hexing him, there really must be something wrong with her," James commented, trying and failing to look as if he could care less.

The bell rang and the sound of scraping chairs filled the room as the class headed for the door. James hurried ahead a bit and caught up with Lily, rejoining his friends a moment later with an uncharacteristically ugly look on his face.

"She shut you down?" Sirius asked, clapping James on the back. "Don't worry about it mate, she'll come around."

James nodded, then grinned as he saw Snape heading down an empty corridor. He winked at Sirius, and they followed Snape down the hallway, Remus and Peter trailing behind them.

"Alright there, Snivellus?" Sirius asked, rather loudly.

Snape froze, then slowly turned around. He looked first at James, then at Sirius, his face full of loathing.

"It's rude to not respond you know," James commented, drawing his wand.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll ever recover from that one," Sirius sniffled, as he too pulled out his wand.

Snape didn't respond but withdrew his wand in one swift movement and flicked it at James, who barely had enough time to block the spell. He managed to produce a shield charm, which the spell bounced off of and into a suit of armor. There was a deafening clang as the armor toppled over, bouncing all over the place.

As if on cue, all the boys took off running, Snape in one direction, the Marauders in another. After a few minutes they slowed down, panting heavily. Sirius glanced around and saw that they were outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. He turned to head up the stairs leading to the Gryffindor common room, but before he could take a step, a large black shape tore past him, closely followed by a girl with light brown hair. Sirius only caught a glimpse of her, but what he saw made his heart skip a beat.


	2. The New Girl

**Alright, here's chapter 2. I hope it did the first chapter justice, and if not then I'm sorry. Enjoy, and please review. I know you will, oh Lord of the Crackers, haha.**

**Chapter 2**

"What the hell was that?" Sirius asked, wide-eyed.

"I think it was a dog," James replied, continuing up the stair case.

They climbed in silence for a moment until they arrived at the foot of the last staircase, where the same girl they saw earlier was climbing through the portrait hole, her arms clamped tightly around an enormous black mass. Sirius cocked an eyebrow and headed up the staircase, intent on finding out what the creature was.

"Oddment," James gave the password to the fat lady.

She gave them an imperious look and swung forward, exposing the portrait hole. The Marauders scrambled through, Sirius in the lead. He quickly glanced around but the neither the girl nor, what he could only assume was her pet, were visible. He shrugged it off and headed for an armchair near the fire, casually turfing a first-year out of one and sitting down in it. After a minute the common room cleared out as people headed out to their lessons and to spend their break in the courtyard. The Marauders were soon alone, slung across chairs, reading books and playing games.

"Damn it you stupid knight, crush him!" Sirius egged one of his chess pieces on, as it was involved in a violent tussle with James' pawn. "He's only a pawn you idiot!"

The knight finally succeeded in pulling the pawn off the board and James, grinning slightly, cast his eyes around the board, planning his next move. He had just opened his mouth to give a command to one of his pieces when they heard a voice float down from the girls' dormitory. Sirius shushed him with a wave of his hand as he tried to catch what the girl was saying.

". . . Damn it James!" they heard her say. "You stupid git. . . Wandering around the school all hours of the night. . . Why can't you behave for once? . . Skulking about, trying to run Mrs. Norris off. . . Carry on like this and Filch'll have you kicked out."

There was a pause in which the Marauders all looked at James, who looked extremely confused.

"Stop wandering around the castle like that damn it. . . There aren't any girls for you here and it's such a nuisance when people run back to me, complaining about you."

There was silence, then the sound of a door opening and swinging shut and footsteps coming down the stairs. The boys all stared as they saw the girl come out the doorway. She was very pretty, though her face was currently flushed and her blue eyes blazing, evidently from the shouting spell she had just had. She stopped dead in the doorway and looked at them.

"Bloody hell," James said indignantly, "what'd I ever do to you?"

"What?" the girl looked bewildered. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You were just up there ranting about me!" James replied.

"No I wasn't," the girl said. "I don't even know you."

"Yes you bloody well were!" James insisted.

"I didn't even say anything to you," the girl answered, looking utterly confused. "I was yelling at that stupid git, James."

"I know you were!" James said, his temper rising.

"Wait, James, I think I know what's going on," Remus cut in.

"Huh?" James answered, still confused, as a look of comprehension dawned on the girl's  
face.

"You stay here, I'll be right back," the girl told them.

"What? Where are you-" James' voice died down as the girl took off up the stairs to her

dormitory. "What the hell was that about?"

"I expect we'll find out soon," Sirius said, looking just as confused as James.

A moment later the girl returned, clutching in her arms an enormous black cat.

"This is my cat," she said, dropping him in an armchair. "His name is James."

"Oh," James replied, embarrassed. "Now I get it. Sorry I yelled at you, I just thought that you were talking to me."

"Yeah," Sirius added lamely, enraptured by the girl's beauty. "We thought you were talking to him too."

The girl shrugged. "Well, now you know. James is also a very annoying cat."

The cat mewed and stretched, leaping up and sitting on the back of the armchair. He was a handsome cat, lean, with sleek black fur and glowing green eyes, which were presently narrowed as he looked at Peter. Without warning he suddenly launched himself forward, hitting Peter squarely in the chest. Peter shrieked as he fell over, pulling his arms over his face to ward off the cat, but he needn't have. As soon as he fell, the cat left him alone, purring as he wound himself around the girl's legs.

"I'm sorry," she said anxiously, hurrying over to Peter and helping him up. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," he muttered, blushing, as the rest of the Marauders roared with laughter.

The girl picked up her cat and straightened up. She turned to the rest of the boys as she stroked James' head.

"My names Aidan, by the way," she said, still petting her cat.

"I'm James, as you well know," James grumbled.

Aidan blushed and cast her eyes down at the ground.

"I'm Remus," Remus cut in, trying to end the awkward silence.

"And I'm Peter," Peter added.

"Nice to meet you all," Aidan replied, looking up at them.

"Yeah, it is," Sirius said, staring at her unconsciously.

"Are you feeling okay?" Aidan frowned slightly.

"Great," Sirius replied breathlessly, "never better."

"And what's your name?" she asked, still confused at his odd behavior.

"Oh, I'm Sirius, Sirius Black," he said quickly, giving her a dazzling smile. A smile which had been known to stop the entire female population at Hogwarts dead in their tracks, but which Aidan simply overlooked.

"So what're you lot up to?" Aidan asked, sinking into an armchair, James still in her arms, purring contededly.

Peter started to answer, but was cut off as James turned to him and made a 'shhhing' gesture.

"First things first," James said, turning back to Aidan. "When did you start at Hogwarts?"

"How d'you know I haven't always gone here?" she asked him with a gleam in her eyes.

"Believe me, if you had come here before, at least one of us would've noticed you," James replied, glancing obviously at Sirius, then winking at Aidan.

"Thanks, I guess," Aidan said. "Alright you win, I started this year. I heard so much about you from a penfriend of mine, so I had to force my parents to track you down and I came here to stalk you."

"What the hell?" James was completely thrown off by this bit of 'information'.

The others started laughing and Aidan gave James a devilish grin. "You heard me."

"Aaah, I see," said James, smiling slightly. "So why are you really here?"

"I dunno, my parents decided to move us here from Ireland," Aidan replied, shrugging.

"So are you in our year then?" Sirius questioned.

"I dunno. What year are you?" Aidan asked indifferently.

"Sixth," he said.

"Then yeah, I am," she replied.

"Strange. . . I don't remember seeing you in potions," Sirius scratched his nose thoughtfully.

"Oh. I was sitting by that redhead up in front," said Aidan. "Lily, I think."

"Oh, Lily," it was Sirius' turn to glance over at James, grinning.

"Yeah, I didn't really speak with her, she seemed nice though," Aidan replied. "She was pretty upset when you hexed that other boy."

James frowned thoughtfully as Sirius sniggered. It was uncomfortably silent for a bit, until Aidan left, muttering something about putting James up in her room. After a few minutes she returned to the common room, looking annoyed, with James in tow.

"He was squalling something awful, so I let him out," she explained to the looks she received from the Marauders.

After a bit the bell rang. Glad for a distraction from the silence, even if it meant going back to class, the Marauders and Aidan stood up, collected their bags, and headed out the portrait hole. As they walked to their next class, jostled by the crowd, Sirius made his way around the group and next to Aidan.

"How would you like a grand tour of Hogwarts, after dinner tonight?" he hissed into her ear. She jumped, surprised, but realizing who it was, she turned and winked at him.

**Sorry, I know that was a crappy ending, but I didn't want this chapter to be way longer than the first. Hopefully chapter 3 will be up soon, but I'm not sure. R&R please!**


	3. Tour of Hogwarts

**Sooooo…. Chapter 3. Read and enjoy. I'll give you a cookie if you review. **

**Chapter 3**

"Black, will you pay attention?" Professor McGonagall's voice snapped through the air like a whip.

Sirius jerked up quickly, focusing on the teacher. He had been daydreaming all of Transfiguration class, unable to focus on what he needed to be doing. Part of it was his natural tendency and the boring lesson, but the other part was caused by a certain Irish beauty, whom he had been unable to get out of his head. James looked over at him and grinned knowingly, before he too was berated by Professor McGonagall.

As McGonagall started teaching again, Sirius zoned out, his grey eyes drifting from the professor to Aidan, who was doodling absentmindedly on the corner of her notebook. He watched her for a moment before shifting his gaze to James, who was staring at the ceiling, his chin in his hand. The bell finally rang and Sirius scooped up his bag, heading toward the door. He caught sight of Aidan cramming her notebook into her bag and James strolling toward her, and hurried to catch up with them.

"So Padfoot, I see you weren't in your mind during Transfiguration," James said conversationally.

"You could say that," Sirius answered.

"Is McGonagall always that strict?" Aidan injected herself into the conversation.

"Ha. That was tame for her, that was," said Sirius, looking down at her.

"Oh. I was surprised she didn't tell me off for not paying attention," Aidan commented.

"Eh, probably cuz you're new," Sirius shrugged.

"OI! Moony over here," James waved as he spotted Remus heading to the Great Hall. Remus looked up and caught sight of him, grinning as he made his way over.

"Hey, what's up?" Remus asked as he shoved a book in his bag.

"D'you ever stop reading?" Sirius asked, shaking his head in mock disgust as Aidan giggled.

Remus just shrugged as they approached the Gryffindor table and plopped down on a bench. Aidan sank down next to him, dropping her bag unceremoniously on the floor, as James slid into a seat across from them. Sirius sat down next to James, drawing grins from all the Marauders, and a raised eyebrow from James. Aidan glanced around and frowned slightly.

"What're you lot smiling at?" she asked curiously as they hastily and unconvincingly adopted innocent looks.

"Nothing," Sirius said airily, waving his hand. Aidan shrugged and started pulling food onto her plate.

The others followed suit, ravenously tearing into the food. They ate in silence for a few minutes, slowing down as the food filled them up. Sirius glanced up from his plate and caught Aidan's eye, grinning at her.

"Wait, Sirius, you have something on your face," Aidan said, smiling a bit as he swiped at the wrong area. "Hold still, I'll get it for you."

She leaned across the table, placing a couple fingers under his chin to hold his head still while she used a napkin to wipe off the smudge. He looked into her striking blue eyes, and started to feel distinctly hot around the collar as she smiled at him. She finished wiping his cheek and leaned back in her seat.

"Thanks," Sirius said, "I can't imagine how I'd look walking around the castle with food all over my face."

"Probably a right side better than you normally do," James grinned maliciously.

"Oh, I doubt it," Aidan said absently. Noticing the boys smirking at her she explained, "What? You're quite good-looking."

"Umm, thanks," Sirius said awkwardly, as the other Marauders collapsed into fits of silent laughter. Aidan shrugged and sat back to observe the others.

James grinned at her. "I like the way your mind works."

"I dunno what that's supposed to mean, but I'll take it as a compliment," said Aidan.

They finished their dinner and made their up to Gryffindor tower to do homework and relax before heading off to bed. Sirius dropped into a chair by the fire took out his homework for the day, sighing as he unscrewed a bottle of ink. He felt something brush against his leg and started, drawing his wand as he looked down to see James arching his back and purring. "Git," he said idly, before dropping his wand back in his pocket and pulling his homework toward him.

After a minute, Aidan descended the stairs from the girls dormitories and settled herself in an armchair. James immediately abandoned Sirius and headed over to Aidan, leaping onto her lap and nuzzling her chin. She scratched him behind the ears before opening her schoolbag and pulling out a roll of parchment already half filled with writing. Sirius quickly returned his attention to his potions essay and finished it, stuffing it back into his bag. He then gazed at the fire, sinking into a stupor as he watched the flickering flames.

"So, how about that tour?" a voice startled him out of his reverie.

He looked up to see Aidan standing there, hands on her hips and a small smile playing across her face. Sirius grinned and stood up, stretching and yawning. He ran his hands through his hair and glanced at his watch, doing a double take.

"Damn, 8:45?" he said wonderingly.

"Is it too late?" Aidan cocked an eyebrow at him.

"No, no, we just aren't supposed to be out after 9," Sirius answered offhandedly.

"Well, what's a tour without a little risk?" she asked, her blue eyes glinting mischievously.

"Why, it's not a tour at all," he responded, smiling widely. He then grabbed Aidan's hand and pulled her to the portrait hole, clambering out after her.

Sirius headed toward the staircases pointing out random things like suits of armor and classrooms. He gave Aidan a particularly long and interesting explanation as to why a certain suit of armor had a bra and a pair of boxers attached to it with a Permanent Sticking Charm, which caused her to double over, laughing so hard that she couldn't breathe. Sirius helped her down the hallway as her giggles subsided, pointing out other random things. As they passed by the boys' bathroom, he stopped. Aidan glanced at him curiously; obviously this was a lavatory, why was he stopping?

"Shall we?" Sirius gestured toward the door. Aidan grinned and followed him in. They had just stepped through the door when someone came out of a stall and froze at the sight of them. Aidan blushed as she locked gazes with a blonde Slytherin prefect, who looked to be about her age. The boy stared at them, dumbstruck.

"Well, don't let us interrupt you," Sirius said edging toward the door, dragging Aidan with him.

"Hold it, Black. You're not allowed out of bed after hours," the Slytherin said, a malicious gleam in his eye.

"Hey, can't a man use a bathroom around here?" Sirius said innocently.

"Don't make me laugh," the boy replied. "But if you wanna get off, just leave _her _behind and go on your way." He stared at Aidan, looking satisfied.

"Excuse me?" Aidan's voice was simmering with anger.

"You heard me. If you really want a good time, I'll give you a tour of my bedroom," the boy answered snidely.

"Apologize to her, Ackerman," Sirius snarled.

"I don't think I -"

"Furnunculus!" Aidan shrieked, cutting him off.

He yelled as the spell hit him in the face and ugly boils started to pop up. Sirius stared at him for a second, then grabbed Aidan's hand and took off for the common room, dragging her with him. Once they were through the portrait hole, they collapsed on the floor, laughing.

"That," Sirius panted, "was bloody brilliant."

Aidan nodded as she tried to catch her breath. "Thanks."

"So sorry our tour got cut short," Sirius said smoothly. "We could always continue it in here." His eyes twinkled.

"Alright," Aidan agreed, surprising him. He led her up the staircase and to a door that was labeled as the sixth year boys' dorm.

"We have a visitor," he called to the others as he and Aidan walked in.

Aidan looked around, seeing Remus curled up in his bed, a book in hand, and Peter playing a game of Exploding Snap on his. She also saw a boy with bright red hair, whom she hadn't met. She then looked over at James, her cheeks reddening as she saw him. He was lying spread-eagled on his bed, wearing only a pair of red plaid boxers, and pointing his wand at a fly buzzing around. They all looked shocked to see her, but Sirius found it all rather amusing, sniggering at the looks on their faces.

"Bloody hell Sirius!" James yelled, so startled that he fell off the bed. Sirius just grinned and led a silent Aidan back down the stairs and into the common room.

"That was. . . . interesting," Aidan said, her speech finally returning.

"Was it?" Sirius was still grinning, "now you know one of the injustices of Hogwarts. You can come up and spy on us, yet we can't do the same to you."

"And what makes you think I wanna see you lot starkers?" Aidan asked.

Sirius just smiled at her and said, "Goodnight Aidan," before heading back up the stairs.


	4. Detention with James

**Lalalala. So here is chapter 4. Sorry it took me so long to write it. Enjoy. Reviews are nice. And in case you were wondering the redhead boy from chapter 3 is Bill Weasley. I know, I know, he's supposed to be just a little bit older than the rest of the lot, but I read somewhere that he's about the age of the Marauders, so there! And besides, what's a Harry Potter fic without a Weasley?**

**Chapter 4**

Sirius woke late the next day, yawning as he glanced at his watch. He cursed and jumped out of his bed, hurriedly getting dressed before leaving the deserted dormitory. The common room was empty, save for a few people who had already finished breakfast. Sirius rushed through the portrait hole and down the stairs to the Great Hall, which was still teeming with people. He dropped into a seat at the Gryffindor table, next to James, who was talking with Remus and Peter.

"Padfoot, old man, why're you so late?" James grinned, looking at Sirius.

"Overslept," Sirius shrugged, spooning some porridge into his bowl. He shoveled some into his mouth before looking up to see Aidan sitting across from him. She was reading a book as she ate her porridge, and didn't seem to have noticed him. He watched her for a minute as she took a bite, her tongue flicking out as she licked the spoon clean, before repeating the process. He squirmed slightly before speaking to her.

"Hey Aidan," he said, taking another mouthful of porridge.

"Oh, hey Sirius," she looked up from her book and smiled at him.

"So. . . Anything new?" he asked, mentally kicking himself for the stupidity of the question.

"Oh, yeah," she answered glancing back up from her book. "Our tour was _very_ productive." She paused. "I got detention from McGonagall for hexing that blonde bloke."

Sirius' mouth dropped open in surprise. "How. . . ?"

"Apparently the stupid git told her," Aidan said calmly. "And that was his second mistake."

"Oh, I like where this is going," James said excitedly. "What're you planning for our dear friend?"

"I've got an idea. But I'm still open to suggestions," she replied as she played with her breakfast.

James leaned back in his chair, looking as if his birthday had come a few months early. They all finished their breakfasts and headed upstairs to their first lesson. Sirius sat himself down at a desk with James and quickly zoned out, not listening to a word Professor Flitwick said. Before long he fell asleep, and was having a wonderful dream about Aidan before he was awoken by a loud shout. He jerked up, looking around groggily, before he noticed that James was no longer next to him, and Lily was looking very upset about something.

"Mr. Potter," Flitwick squeaked angrily. "You need to learn to behave yourself in this class! I want you to go straight to Professor McGonagall's office, no excuses!"

"Yes, Professor," James muttered, heading out the door.

After class was over, Sirius met up with James again in Gryffindor tower. He was working on his Potions homework from the previous night and looked rather angry. Sirius approached the table and sat down next to him.

"So what happened with McGonagall?" Sirius prodded, watching James scribble ferociously.

"I have to clean out the boys' lavatory tonight. Without magic," James replied furiously.

"What a coincidence, so do I."

Sirius looked up to see Aidan standing over them. She dropped her bag on the floor and pulled up a chair, settling herself into it. "Miserable old bat," she muttered, pulling out a roll of parchment. "Cleaning out the lavatory, _without_ magic."

The rest of the day passed by rather quickly, and by dinnertime, both Aidan and James seemed to have forgotten about their detentions. They were all sitting at the table, eating, until Remus asked what time their detentions started.

"Oh damn," Aidan said. "Are we late?"

James quickly glanced down at his watch. "No, we'll make it if we hurry."

"Remus, you just saved my arse," Aidan said as she gathered up her bag. "Thanks." She kissed him on the cheek and hurried off to her detention with James.

Sirius looked at Remus, who looked slightly shocked. Though he was a bit jealous, he couldn't help but grin at the expression on the werewolf's face.

"You okay, Moony?" Sirius asked as Remus brought his fingers up to the spot where Aidan's lips had touched him. Remus nodded and looked up at him.

"Sorry," he said quietly.

"Sorry for what?" Sirius asked grinning mischievously. "Getting kissed by a gorgeous girl with a goddamn sexy Irish accent? Is there something you need to tell us Moony?"

"No, it's not like that Padfoot," Remus replied, grinning reluctantly as Peter sniggered. "I know you have a thing for her."

"Ahh, do you now?" Sirius asked, trying to sound like he had no idea what Remus was talking about.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Padfoot, everyone with half a brain knows that you fancy her."

"So Wormtail is still in the dark?" Sirius joked, still surprised by his friends observance. Of course James would know, after all he and Sirius were the best of friends. Hell, Sirius could read James better than he could Regulus, and he knew that James could read him just as well. But Sirius had hoped that James would be the only one to know. If Remus found out, then maybe others would, including Aidan herself.

Remus shook his head, grinning. "Just ask her out already. You haven't had a problem with this before."

"Moony, Moony, Moony," Sirius said in a patronising tone. "That was because those girls obviously found me irresistable. And let's face it, they were right-"

Remus snorted.

"But Aidan, she is tough to figure out," Sirius finished.

"So what, you're not gonna ask out a beautiful, intelligent, and funny girl?" Remus asked. "This _is_ Sirius Black I'm talking to, right? He hasn't been kidnapped and replaced by-"

"A cowardly prat?" Peter suggested, before he fell to the ground after being punched in the gut by said cowardly prat.

Sirius looked at Remus thoughtfully. Maybe he _should_ ask Aidan out. After all, she was gorgeous and funny, and despite being at the school for only a few days she had already become quite popular, not only in Gryffindor, but throughout the school, and if he did not ask her out soon, someone else was sure to.

"I think you may be right Moony," Sirius said as he got up. "It is high time I got a new girlfriend."

Remus snorted again. "You are the _last_ person who needs a new girlfriend. Didn't you just ditch your last one like a week ago?"

"That's beside the point," Sirius said airily, as they headed up to the common room. He headed up to his dormitory and scrounged through his trunk to find his two-way mirror. He finally located it and held it up, saying James' name. He waited a minute before James appeared in his mirror, grinning and dripping.

"Hey Prongs, how goes the detention?" Sirius asked, wondering why he was soaked.

"See for yourself," James said, before the mirror showed a view of a bathroom, which was clean, but completely soaked.

"What the bloody hell have you been doing in there?" Sirius said.

"Well, we of course cleaned it without magic," James said his eyes twinkling, "but McGonagall seemed to doubt that, considering it only took us about 15 minutes. So she made us clean another lavatory as well."

"I don't care about that. Why are you wet?" Sirius said impatiently.

"Oh, well you have Aidan to thank for that," James said, before flipping the mirror to catch sight of her. She also was completely soaked, grinning as she pushed her hair out of her eyes. She waved at Sirius before the view switched back to James.

"We got bored of cleaning, so we decided to have a bit of fun," James said, grinning suggestively.

"Oh, shut up you bloody git," Sirius said.

"Damn, I gotta go, McGonagall is coming. Bye," James said before disappearing from sight.

Sirius dropped the mirror back into the trunk, wondering what James and Aidan were up to, alone in the bathroom. He frowned and shrugged it off, deciding to start on his Charms homework in order to forget about it.

**Duh-duh-duh! Ooooh, a cliffhanger! Haha. Not really, but whatever. Tell me what you think in a review. **


	5. Kisses and Secrets

**You say you want a revolution. Well you know. We all want to change the world. You tell me that it's evolution. Well you know. We all want to change the world. . . Haha, I do love the Beatles. Anyhow, here's chapter 5. Reviews are nice. **

**Chapter 5**

"For the millionth time, Padfoot, I swear nothing happened ," James said wearily, flopping back against a tree.

Sirius frowned at him. "That had better be true."

It was the day after Aidan and James' detention, and they had gone down to the lake after an early dinner. Sirius was still worried about what might have happened in there. It also didn't help that the more time Sirius spent with Aidan, the more he liked her. He knew only a bit about her, but everything he learned made him fall even harder for her.

Like the fact that, in her previous schools, she spent at least three days a week in detention. And that she was the most energetic, attractive, and hilarious girl he had ever met. He knew that she had a large family, and was slightly worried by the fact that she had 8 brothers, all older than her. However, this helped him understand why she was so much tougher than other girls, both physically and emotionally.

Oh god, Sirius thought. I sound like a girl here. This isn't supposed to happen to me. I'm _Sirius Black_ for Christ's sake. Girls fall in love with me and I take my pick, not the other way around.

"You alright, Padfoot?" Remus' voice broke into his thoughts. Sirius looked up to find the others staring at him, looking concerned.

"Yeah, this isn't like you," James said thoughtfully, but Sirius wasn't paying attention.

He had just noticed a small red fox sitting under a bush near them. He'd never seen a fox here before, he was almost positive that none lived on the grounds. He watched carefully as the fox's ear twitched. James followed his gaze and noticed the fox.

"Padfoot, are the instincts taking over?" James asked, grinning.

"Shut up. There's something about that fox. . ." Sirius trailed off as the fox looked up at him through astonishingly blue eyes. Eyes that were, in fact, the same colour as. . . "Aidan?" Sirius whispered wonderingly.

The fox gave a start and jumped up. The Marauders all stared at it as it looked at them, before it turned tail and darted off.

"Was that?" James asked.

"I think it was," Remus said in a hushed voice.

"Who'd've thought," Peter commented.

"That Aidan is an Animagus?" Sirius finished.

They all sat back, discussing the most recent change of events before a distraction arrived. The lake area had been deserted before, as it was dinnertime, but now students were pouring out of the castle. They had to stop their discussion as they were approached by a few others who wanted to talk. After a while they decided to head up to Gryffindor tower.

They arrived in the common room and, to their satisfaction, found it completely empty. Sirius headed over to an armchair and fell into it, sighing with boredom. He turned his head as he heard a slight noise and saw that the room was not as empty as he'd thought. Aidan was sitting in an armchair in the corner, looking harried. She slowly walked over to where he and the other Marauders were and sat down on the floor, looking up at them seriously.

"You aren't gonna tell anyone, are you?" She asked them, looking at James in particular.

"I dunno, what's keeping it a secret worth to you?" He asked, grinning.

"I'm serious James. D'you have _any_ idea how much trouble I'd get into if someone found out?" Aidan said, her eyes reflecting how truly nervous she was.

"Oh, I think we do," James said amicably.

"We won't tell anyone, Aidan," Remus elbowed James in the ribs.

They could see Aidan visibly relax. "Thanks Remus," she said quietly, before standing up and kissing him on the cheek.

"No problem," Remus said, his face flushing.

"Yeah, we could never betray one of our kind," Sirius winked at her.

"What?" Aidan looked confused before her eyes became fiery. "You mean-"

"Hold on, we should take this conversation someplace more private," Remus said sensibly.

"Right you are, Moony," James nodded in agreement, before leading them up the staircase to their dormitory. When they arrived they all explained to her the story of them becoming Animagi, skating over the bit about Remus being a werewolf. After a while they lolled into comfortable silence, which was broken by James.

"So, you kissed Moony, don't you think we deserve a little something for keeping your secret?" James grinned suggestively.

"Yeah, I'll tell you what you deserve," Aidan said, firing up. "A good, hard proverbial kick up the-"

"Whoa now, settle down," Sirius said, chuckling, as she frowned at him.

"You gits, you made me sit there for ages, worrying about whether I'd get in trouble or not and now you expect me to thank you?!" Aidan replied, heatedly.

"A kiss would be nice," Sirius winked at her, "_or_ you could-"

But whatever the other option was, the others didn't find out, because Aidan clamped her hand over Sirius' mouth. "I don't even wanna know," she said, shaking her head, before jerking her hand back. "Eww! You just licked me!"

Sirius shrugged. "How else was I supposed to get your hand off my mouth?"

Aidan just crinkled her nose and frowned at him. Sirius looked up at her, his eyes glazing over. She looked so cute when she was riled. "Alright," she said after a minute. "I suppose you _do_ deserve some thanks."

James grinned as she stood up and faced him. She smiled sweetly at him before saying, "Thanks," and sticking her hand out to shake his. His smile widened and he grabbed her hand, pulling her into a hug.

"Nice try, Aidan," James said, grinning triumphantly, "but you're not getting away with just a handshake." She let out a giggle and hugged him back.

"Alright, alright," she said grudgingly, though the effect was ruined by her smile. She turned and gave Peter a hug, then turned to Sirius. "What'll it be mate? Hug? Handshake? I promise I won't lick you," she said teasingly.

"Oh, but that's what he wanted," James said, smiling mischievously.

Sirius grinned at her. Aidan smiled back at him and his pulse quickened as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He squeezed her back before letting go, but to his surprise she didn't step away. Her head was still resting against his chest and she had a small frown on her face. Sirius looked down at her, bemused, as the other Marauders collapsed into tremendous, but completely silent, fits of laughter.

"Are you okay?" Aidan asked, her head still pressed firmly against her chest. "You sound like you're about to have a heart attack."

"I think he just might if you don't step away soon," James snorted with laughter.

Sirius grabbed a pillow off his bed and chucked it at James, who couldn't duck quickly enough. It hit him full in the face and sent his glasses spinning through the air as he fell over.

"Oi!" James said indignantly, sitting up. "What was that for?"

"Just for you, being you," Sirius grinned at him.

"Well, now you have to help me find my glasses, you tosspot," James replied, getting down on his knees to search for them. The rest of the Marauders, and Aidan, joined in the hunt for his glasses, but after a minute Sirius stood up, frustrated.

"Okay, face it Prongs, you're glasses are not here."

James just shook his head before returning to the search. Sirius grumbled and decided to check under his bed. He kneeled down and pulled up the sheet that was trailing off it, and jumped back as a small shape leaped at him. He swore loudly as he hit his head on the underside of the bed and sat upright. The shape turned out to be Aidan in her Animagus form, who grinned apologetically as she transformed back.

"I'm sorry," she said as the others howled with laughter. "I just couldn't resist."

Sirius grinned lightly. "I know how you feel. But damn that hurt."

"Want me to kiss it and make it better?" she said, patronisingly.

"Please," he answered, grinning. Aidan sat next to him and pressed her lips to the back of his head.


	6. Bananas and Peanuts

**Okay, so after that pathetic attempt at chapter 5, I have decided to work super hard on chapter 6. And I'm very, very sorry if you don't like it, especially if you were unfortunate enough to read chapter 5. And my milk tastes like fruit. Weird.**

**Chapter 6**

Sirius lay in his bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. It was only ten o'clock, but the Marauders had decided to turn in early. Aidan had left to go to bed about an hour ago and he was left wide awake, cherishing the kiss he had finally gleaned from her. He had just dozed off when something large and black leaped up onto his bed. Sirius started as James rubbed against him, purring.

"How the bloody hell did you get up here?" Sirius asked grumpily as he scratched James behind the ears. The cat purred louder, if possible, and curled up next to Sirius. "Oh no, you are **not** sleeping up here."

Sirius picked James up and carried him down the stairs into the common room. He dropped him into an armchair and was about to head back up to his dormitory when his eyes caught a flicker of movement. Sirius turned and saw Aidan curled up in an armchair, a blanket draped over her. He walked over to her and gently prodded her. She moaned and rolled over, burying her face into the chair. Sirius smiled and prodded her again. Aidan sat up, blinking sleepily, and smiled as she saw him.

"What're you doing down here?" Sirius asked her, perching himself on the arm of the chair.

Aidan yawned, causing Sirius to do the same. "I was cold, so I came to sit down by the fire for a while. And then I suppose I fell asleep."

Sirius nodded and pushed Aidan to the side of the chair. "Scoot over, this is uncomfortable." She giggled as he wedged himself into the chair next to her, casually draping his arm around her shoulder.

She rested her head against his chest and stared into the fire. "So why are _you_ down here?" she asked after a moment of sitting in silence.

"James woke me up," Sirius answered, motioning at the cat, who was curled in front of the fire, staring at them.

"Ahh, I'm sorry." Aidan said, smiling at her cat. "If I didn't love that cat so damn much I would've let Declan turn him into a tea cozy when he offered."

"Wait, who's Declan?" Sirius asked. "One of your many brothers?"

"Yup," Aidan answered, pulling the blanket over her and snuggling against him. "You remind me of him a lot."

Sirius' heart just about stopped after he heard these words. Her brother. He reminded Aidan of her _brother_. How was he supposed to ask her out if she thought of him like her brother?

"Sirius, you okay?" Aidan asked, waving her hand in his face.

"Oh, yeah, fine," he answered, trying to smile back at her, but failing miserably. "Run through this list again. I can never remember any of your brothers' names." Anything to keep you here, he thought.

"Alright. It might take you a while to get it though," Aidan said. "So first is Patrick. He's twenty-two. Then it's Ciaran, who's twenty-one. Then Fergus, twenty. Then come the twins, Conor and Murphy. They're nineteen. And then there's Reilly and Ronan, who're both eighteen."

"Wait, so there're two sets of twins?" Sirius interrupted.

"No, they're what you call 'Irish twins'. No joke," she added when Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "They were born nine months apart. And then there's Declan. He's two years older than me."

"Wait, so he's eighteen too? I thought they were Irish twins, not triplets," Sirius was confused.

"No, he's seventeen," Aidan answered. "I don't turn sixteen till May 7."

"Then shouldn't you be a fifth year?" Sirius questioned. "Just kidding, brains like yours, no way," he added thoughtfully.

"Thanks," Aidan gave him a half-smile, which just about killed him. She looked so damn gorgeous when she did that. "But it's some weird thing about the schooling here and back in Bantry."

"Hmmm. I've only got one brother and my mum could hardly stand us. How d'you lot survive with eight?" Sirius asked.

Aidan shrugged. "I dunno, but I can't imagine having any less than eight brothers."

Sirius nodded as she laid her head back against his chest. He rested his head on hers, and after a bit, he dozed off. The next morning he awoke to something brushing across his face. He pushed it away, but it came back, rubbing against his cheek. He opened one eye and squinted up to see James sitting on his chest, his tail flicking back and forth. He looked over to Aidan, who smiled at him as he sat up and rubbed his eyes open.

"Hey," she said from where she was sitting on the floor, reading a book. "Good morning."

"What time is it?" Sirius asked, yawning. James jumped off him, hissing.

"5:30."

"What?! And you're _awake_?" Sirius sat back, suddenly feeling extremely tired, no doubt due to the fact that he now knew what time it was. "What's wrong with you? No one wakes up this early. Except maybe Remus. . ." He added as an afterthought.

"Okay, you can go back to sleep and I'll talk to him," Aidan suggested, grinning.

As much as Sirius hated to miss spending time with Aidan, he needed his sleep. "Okay," he agreed. "Should I send him down, or are you going up there?"

"I'll come up and fetch him," Aidan said, closing her book and jumping up.

"I bet you just want another look at James in his boxers," Sirius said, standing up and stretching. Aidan gave him a devilish grin.

"And what's wrong with that?" she protested, trying to sound hurt. "Your best mate is a hottie."

Used to her sense of humor and personality by now, Sirius felt only a small pang of jealousy at this comment. He set off up the stairs with Aidan trailing behind him. As he arrived in the dormitory he gestured to Remus, then promptly dropped into his bed and fell asleep. He woke a couple hours later to find that Aidan was still there. She and Remus were both reading, their backs propped against each other and their books on their laps. Sirius grinned and stretched, glad that Remus had finally trusted someone else enough to tell them his secret. He would always remember that moment. . .

flashback

Sirius was sitting in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He doodled on a bit of parchment as Professor Colins reviewed about werewolves. He didn't look up until he heard Snape say, "Well, they should just lock the lot of 'em up and be done with it," with a nasty glance at Remus. Sirius was about to snap back when he heard the most unlikely of voices retort, "What's wrong with werewolves? It's not like they can help what they are!"

The heated argument ended a few moments later with Snape saying, "So if a friend of your's happened to be a werewolf, you wouldn't care?"

"You're damn right I wouldn't," Aidan fired back, glaring at him. "Your friends don't seem to care that they've befriended an oversized bat, do they?" This ended the conversation, but got Aidan a detention from Professor Colins.

Shortly thereafter, Remus had approached Aidan, asking to talk about something in private. She'd followed him to a corner in the courtyard, away from the other Marauders, who watched with interest. Sirius could see Remus talking seriously to Aidan for a moment. Then it seemed as if they were having a small argument. "Haven't I already said it? Remus I don't give a damn what you are! You're my friend and I couldn't care less if you were a bloody werewolf!" Aidan had said, maybe a little too loudly. Remus clapped his hand over her mouth, but gave her a small smile and pulled her into a hug. She held onto him tightly for a moment, before they returned to the other Marauders.

"Excellent," James said, rubbing his hands together. "You came ready made for us, Aidan." She gave him a quizzical look. "Oh, come on, you're an Animagus and you love werewolves? You're of Marauder mentality, dear."

"Alright then, I suppose this is a good thing," Aidan grinned mischievously, as they headed back up to the castle "One question for Moony though. How exactly did a Marauder become a prefect?"

Remus shrugged, grinning. "I suppose they thought I might be able to control Padfoot and Prongs if I had a bit more authority. You can see how well I've done." He gestured to James and Sirius, who were halfway down the hall, bewitching a wall to look like a door.

Laughter bubbled out of Aidan. "Oh, sure, I can see they're perfect little angels now. How'd you manage to bring about such a change of heart?"

end flashback

Sirius shook his head, smiling. That girl was definitely Marauder material.

**There you go. Hope you enjoyed chapter 6. I'm planning on ending the story in the next chapter or two, so tell me what you think in a review. Thanks. **


	7. A Sad Letter

**I'M SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO POST IT! Hmmm. I rather liked chapter 6. I thought it was an ENORMOUS improvement from the dung heap that was chapter 5. And here is chapter 7. Read and enjoy. And tell me what you think of it! In a review, of course. Oh, and don't freak, I know it's a lot different than the other chapters. Especially since it's in multiple peoples' pov, rather than just Sirius'.**

**Chapter 7**

Monday morning found the Marauders eating breakfast in the Great Hall. Sirius groaned as he played with his bacon and eggs. He really did not feel like going to his lessons, and was debating on whether or not to get himself sick, in order to escape them. James was scribbling on a bit of parchment, Remus was reading a book, Peter, shoveling down his breakfast, and Aidan was levitating her fork, eyes unfocused.

Suddenly, a large eagle owl flew down and landed in their midst. As they were not paying attention, all the Marauders leapt up with exclamations and much swearing as their breakfast was strewn everywhere. The owl promptly dropped the letter in front of Aidan and took flight again. She picked up the letter and swore loudly as ketchup dripped off it and onto her schoolbag.

"Damn bird," she muttered before opening the letter.

"Who's it from?" James asked, shoving the parchment into his bag. She didn't answer, so he glanced up. "Aidan, you okay?"

She didn't respond, it seemed as though her eyes were glued to the parchment. Her face became stony as her eyes slid down the page, before they came to a rest at the bottom.

"Aidan?" Remus tried this time. Without warning Aidan burst into tears and jumped up from the table, rushing out of the Great Hall. Remus looked alarmed, though not nearly as much as Sirius.

"Blimey, what was that about?" James asked, sounding very interested. "I really don't get women."

Remus looked after Aidan thoughtfully. "I don't think that was a woman thing Prongs."

* * *

Declan rushed through the empty warehouse, hardly noticing where he was going, intent on simply getting out. Preferably alive. He panted loudly as he skidded around a corner, crashing into a stack of empty barrels. He swore under his breath as the resounding cacophony gave away his whereabouts. Declan shot out of the mess of barrels, and toward a doorway, leading to another section of the warehouse.

"Come now dearie, you can't run forever!" came the cackling voice of his predator.

"Just trying to give you some exercise, you old hag!" he shouted recklessly. "It looked like you could use it."

The witch let out an angry shriek. "You'll pay for that one you brat!"

Declan hurried across the room, but before he could get too far, he felt a blinding pain at the back of his head, and was falling into darkness.

A few minutes, hours, or possibly even days later, Declan awoke, strapped to a wooden chair in a small, empty room. He looked up groggily, blinking to adjust his eyes to the dim light. There was a click of a door opening, and his pursuer stepped into the room. She was a woman of medium stature, slender, with long blonde hair flowing down her back. Her pretty face was contorted by a look that suggested she had just been asked to clean out a stable.

"Wakey, wakey, darling. I've been waiting to talk to you," she smiled jeeringly at him.

"What the bloody hell d'you want?" Declan growled, glaring at her. He recoiled in pain as she struck him across the face, causing him to bite his tongue.

"Watch your mouth, scum," she snapped. "Now as I was saying. You're lucky. The Dark Lord is interested in your abilities. You have the opportunity many would die for. Actually," she paused to chuckle, "you have the opportunity that many _have_ died for. So what say you?"

"Go to hell," Declan spat at her feet, blood mixing with the saliva.

"You insolent little whelp!" she shrieked angrily. "I have overlooked your impertinence, but this is too much! I am unable to work with such nonsense."

Declan merely gave her a contemptuous look.

"Do you not understand, fool? I am about to kill you! You are at my mercy! Do you have anything to say?" her high, quavering voice and bulging eyes made her appear quite demented.

"Yeah," he said calmly, looking up at her, "could you let my family know that I love them, and I won't be visiting anymore?"

The witch let out a strangled shriek, before screeching the last words Declan would hear. The spell hit him in the chest and he slumped forward as far as his bonds would allow as the life was wiped from his body. The woman approached Declan's body and tilted his head up, gazing into his empty, sightless eyes. She was surprised and enraged to see a peaceful smile emblazoned across his face. What she didn't know was that his last thoughts were of his family. She thought that he would be terrified, dreading those fatal words, but his only thoughts were the precious memories that he had carried with him his whole life. Memories of his friends, parents, brothers, and memories of Aidan, with whom he had shared a special bond his entire life.

* * *

Aidan rushed out of the Great Hall, tears streaming down her face and her mother's letter crumpled in her fist. It couldn't be true. It just _couldn't_. Not her brother. Not Declan. She was running. Running away from everyone, away from the truth, away from the fact that she was never going to speak to her brother, her best friend, her confidant, ever again. Finally she stopped, out of breath and found herself outside the library. She ambled inside and dropped down into a chair by a window. Looking out at the rain falling down from the sky, she felt fresh tears seep out of her eyes. Why? she thought. Why Declan? He had never done anything to deserve this. He was her hero, her role model, her protector. She chuckled as she remembered something he had told her before she started at Hogwarts. 

"_And you'd better watch out for these British blokes," he said sternly, when he saw her off at the platform, "I swear, if one of them tries to pull anything with you, they're dead."_

"_Declan, thanks, but I've already got a dad. I don't need another one," she said exasperatedly as he pulled her into a hug and kissed her goodbye_

"_One?" he feigned a look of confusion. "Last I checked you had _eight_ older brothers."_

Aidan smiled slightly. That was Declan, always joking, always teasing. A moment not used to pull a prank or tell a joke was a moment wasted. And Aidan. She was his partner in crime. His protégé. They always got in trouble together, whether it be for turning all of Ronan's work clothes pink, or for switching their mum's real wand for a fake one, once even for sending an official looking letter from the 'Ministry of Magic' to Ciaran, confusing him into believing that he had been summoned to discuss the matter of his non-existent pet aethonan attacking an unsuspecting Muggle. That one was particularly vivid in her memory, as it was accompanied by the worst tongue-lashing and the longest grounding that she and Declan had ever received from their mother. It was a rare occasion when one got in trouble and the other didn't. Aidan smiled again as she remembered one of their capers in which they had gone leprechaun hunting in the woods behind their house.

"_Alright, you know what to do, right?" Declan asked her for what must have been the thousandth time._

"_Yes Declan, unless you've changed the plan since you last mentioned it six seconds ago," Aidan rolled her eyes._

_Declan chuckled. "You really are a kid after my heart. Wait, here he comes, now. . . Go!"_

_Aidan had ducked behind a fallen log and quietly crawled around to get behind the leprechaun, while Declan remained in front of him. They had leapt out at the same time, attempting to surprise him, but the leprechaun was much too quick for them. He simply took a couple bounding steps out of the way as Aidan and Declan hurtled through the air, causing them to crash into each other, and fall to the ground. Declan then had to help Aidan hobble back to the house, nursing a broken ankle. Their mother had been particularly upset about this one as well, maintaining that young women should be content to behave themselves, and do something constructive with their time and energy, rather than get involved in crazy schemes that were unlikely to ever work._

Aidan stared out the window, absorbed in the memories of her brother. She kept smiling unconsciously as she remembered some of the shenanigans they had pulled off. Suddenly, the realization of what had just happened hit her anew, and sobs wracked her body as a fresh flood of tears ran down her face. She made no attempt to stem the flow, but cried in earnest, mourning the loss of her best friend.

**Okay, this chapter made me cry. I know, I know, it's sad and it doesn't really go with the rest of the story. I hope you like it though. According to my friend a good writer is able to make his/her readers laugh and cry in the same book. And if you haven't laughed or cried, you have no sense of humor, and you are heartless. Now, click the pretty purple button. You know you want to. . . **


	8. Unrequited Love

**So chapter 7 made me kind of sad. Actually, really sad. Anyhow, here's chapter 8. Sorry it took so damn long to get up. Read and review please!**

**Chapter 8**

"What d'you mean it's not a woman thing?" James asked, confused. "You don't see many blokes start crying hysterically and run away from their mates

"You might. But only if something extremely awful happened," Sirius said thoughtfully.

Remus gave Sirius an appraising glance before nodding.

"Then shouldn't we go see what's wrong?" Sirius jumped up, looking worried.

"But she's crying over something. We have no idea what to do. And she's a girl!" Peter squeaked, sounding terrified at the prospect of confronting an emotional female.

"So? She's still our best mate, and we need to be there for her, you great prat," Sirius snapped, picking up his bag and stalking off.

He had only gone a few feet when he heard footsteps and shouts for him to wait up. He turned and saw James and Remus hurrying toward him, and Peter following along half-heartedly. They scoured the castle, checking all of her favorite haunts, but Aidan was nowhere to be found.

"Ahh, the map!" James smacked himself in the forehead before bringing out a worn piece of parchment, tapping it with his wand, and muttering, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Ink suddenly appeared, spider webbing across the page as it formed the many corriders, classrooms, and secret passages of Hogwarts. The Marauders all crowded around, searching the parchment for a certain dot.

"Look, there she is!" Remus pointed to a dot labeled 'Aidan O'Farrell' that was stationary in the library.

The Marauders hurried toward the library and made their way to the back where Aidan was sitting, staring out the window and shaking. Relieved, they hurried over to her, Sirius in the lead. She glanced up and he saw tears pouring out of her eyes, but it was what he saw in her eyes that saddened him. Pain. Sorrow. Anger. Remus approached her as the other Marauders hung back, unsure of what to do. He squatted down next to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Aidan let out a howl of anguish and fell into his arms, crying into his robes.

James and Sirius quietly approached and sat down next to her, while Peter stood a few feet away, looking quite alarmed. After a few moments, Aidan looked up, hiccupping slightly, tear tracks still glittering on her cheeks. She glanced around at the boys surrounding her, and when her eyes fell on Sirius she let out a whimper, her eyes filling with tears yet again. Sirius was utterly nonplussed, and simply stared at her as Remus asked what was wrong. She didn't answer, but held out a crumpled and tearstained piece of parchment that Sirius recognized as the letter she had received just a bit ago. He took it from her trembling hand and smoothed it out, frowning as he saw the shaky handwriting. Sirius took a deep breath and started reading the letter.

_Aidan. Declan is dead. He was ambushed by a Death Eater as he headed home from work yesterday. Aurors found his body so we'll still be able to have a funeral service for him. We're going to pick you up tonight for the funeral, but you can go back to Hogwarts after if you wish. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement has convicted Lucretia Prewett for the murder; however she escaped and is nowhere to be found. Your brothers arrived today and will also be attending the funeral._

_Mum and Dad_

Sirius was shocked, but he now understood Aidan's seemingly mad actions. He handed the letter to Remus, who removed his arms from around Aidan in order to read it. She sat quietly, sniffing and wiping her eyes as tears continued to fall. Remus quickly read the letter, his face contorted into a grimace of disgust as his eyes traveled down the page.

"That's horrible," he whispered as he handed the parchment to James.

"Yeah, it is," James said in a hushed tone as he quickly read it. He then handed the parchment to Peter, who gingerly took it and read it. He looked surprised and scared when he had finished it.

"Say, Padfoot, don't you have an aunt called Lucretia Prewett?" he asked, gulping, as Sirius, who clearly did not want anyone to know this, shot him a death glare.

But the damage was done. At these words, Aidan jerked upright, her face calm but eyes blazing dangerously.

"Your aunt?" she whispered, her voice quiet and deadly.

"Umm, yeah, I suppose he's right," Sirius muttered.

"You bastard!" Aidan shrieked, lurching forward and pounding every inch of him she could reach. "You and your damn family! Is this what you do? You lot go around killing people for fun? Don't even care if they have family, or friends who care about them? Just want to do whatever you please!"

Sirius didn't answer, as he was busy trying to fend her off. He tried to catch hold of her wrists as the blows rained down on him, but she was too fast. The other Marauders looked startled and hurried forward to help him, but before they could do anything she let out one last anguished howl and collapsed against Sirius. They stared in awed confusion at her for a minute, but then she jumped up and rushed out the door.

The Marauders were still disconcerted by her behavior, and discussed it as they headed to their History of Magic lesson. After the double period ended they headed back to the common room for their open period. They climbed through the portrait hole into the tumult of the room where people were rushing to collect books and parchment before heading off to class.

After the room had cleared out, save for some other sixth and seventh year students, the Marauders lounged in chairs in front of the fire.

"D'you think she'll be okay?" Sirius asked, worried.

"For god's sake Padfoot, her brother just died. What d'you think?" Remus' voice sounded strained.

"I dunno," Sirius said quietly, sounding defeated. Remus looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.

"What's with you? You're acting so strange," Remus prodded.

"I'm in love with her Moony," Sirius whispered, looking up at him.

The Marauders simply stared at him, dumbfounded. This was definitely not something Sirius had ever said before. Just then Aidan came down the stairs from the girls' dormitory wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, a small black rucksack slung over her shoulder.

Sirius jumped up to greet her. "Are you leaving then?"

"Aye," Aidan said, not meeting his eyes.

"We'll walk you out?" Remus offered, eyes still locked onto Sirius, who looked dejected.

Aidan gave him an appreciative smile and nodded. They headed downstairs and out to the entrance hall. Sirius felt his jaw drop as he walked into the hall. There was a crowd of people standing at the door, who was obviously Aidan's family. They all had the same bright blue eyes and brown hair. Aidan squealed, dropped her rucksack and ran over to them. She was immediately engulfed in a hug by a man and a woman who looked like they could be her parents. Sirius watched, amazed, as she hugged all the other men standing there, one by one.

Aidan talked with them for a bit, then shook her head and walked back over to the Marauders. She approached Remus and hugged him, firmly wrapping her arms around him before kissing his cheek. She then did the same to James and Peter, only giving Sirius a glance filled with agony before heading out the door with her family. She turned and gave them one last wave before the door clanged shut, leaving Peter, James, Remus, and a very miserable Sirius behind it.

**End of chapter. Sorry that this one took so long. So what'd you think? I'd really love to know if you'd be so kind as to post a review. **


	9. Or is it?

**Alright, here is chapter 9. I am **_**extremely **_**sorry that it took me so long to update. Read and enjoy. **

**Chapter 9**

"C'mon, join the party!"

"No thanks."

"How about a game of chess?"

"No."

"A snowball fight?"

"No."

"Jesus Christ, Padfoot, you've got to do something," James said exasperatedly.

"I know, I know, I just don't feel like it," Sirius mumbled, staring at the fire again.

The Marauders were in the midst of a party in the common room Saturday afternoon, Gryffindor having just annihilated Slytherin in the last Quidditch match before the holidays. They had been trying, unsuccessfully, for the last half hour to convince Sirius to join in the festivities. None of them were quite sure how to treat him, due to the fact that he claimed he was in love with Aidan, but they were doing their best to keep things normal. Despite their persistence he had stayed by the fireside, gazing into the depths of the flames, lost in thought. Aidan still hadn't returned to school and he was beginning to wonder if she ever would.

"Look Sirius, I know this is about Aidan. And, well…" Remus trailed off. "Okay, I have no idea what to say."

"What you say is 'seeing as how Christmas is in a week, she'll probably be back after the holidays, and then you'll be able to swoon all over her and tell her you love her,'" James spoke up, grinning.

Sirius glanced up at him and frowned. "Just go have your snowball fight and leave me alone."

"That's it," James said, jumping up. "We're not taking no for an answer. Moony, can I have your assistance?"

Remus grinned and stood up. He and James hauled Sirius out of the chair and frog-marched him over to the portrait hole, Peter trailing behind.

"Shove off, you tosspots," Sirius muttered, trying to hide a grin. While it was true that he was still upset about Aidan, he was getting a bit tired of moping around.

James and Remus led him out onto the grounds where they started a snowball fight with some other students. After a while, tired and frozen, they headed back up to the castle. Remus suggested a trip to the kitchens to get some hot chocolate and the others fervently agreed. They sat around the kitchen fire for a bit, sipping their drinks, before heading back up to the common room, cold and wet. Sirius climbed the stairs to his dormitory and ambled over to his trunk, pulling out a pair of fresh pants and a knitted jumper. He quickly changed and headed back into the common room, dropping down into a chair by the other Marauders.

"Anyone want a game of Exploding Snap?" Remus offered, producing a pack of cards from his pocket.

"Sure," Sirius replied, as James and Peter nodded vigorously.

They began the game and continued playing for the best part of the day. As they had learned long ago, Remus was the master of this game, and their attempts were only to stop him from victory, no matter what the cost. The long, drawn out game ended with James winning and Remus going down spectacularly in defeat.

"How d'you like me now Remus?" James said, striking a victory pose.

"You got lucky," Remus replied, brushing a bit of ash off his nose.

"Just keep telling yourself that, mate," James replied, grinning.

Remus rolled his eyes as he continued to remove the soot from his face. They lapsed into companionable silence for a bit, staring at the fire before Sirius spoke up.

"Wish it was a full moon tonight," he said, glancing out the window. "I'm bloody bored."

"Next one's in January," Remus said darkly.

"Damn," Sirius replied, returning his gaze to the fire.

A few hours later the Marauders turned in for the night, dressing for bed in silence before collapsing into their four posters. The next week passed quite quickly, Christmas arriving in no time at all. The Marauders woke up to find piles of presents at the feet of their beds and crawled out from under the covers to open them.

Sirius searched through his pile; there were the usual, presents from James, Remus, and Peter, there were also a few gifts from assorted family members, some from female students who had long admired him, but underneath the lot was a small package wrapped in brown paper that had no name on it.

"Hey, did you get one of these?" James called, holding up a similar package.

Sirius nodded, as did Remus and Peter.

"It's from Aidan," Remus said in surprise, opening the package to find a letter and a gift covered in Christmas wrap.

"What?" Sirius grabbed the package and ripped the paper off.

Inside was a sheet of parchment folded in half and a gift. He took a deep breath and picked up the letter, not quite sure he wanted to know what Aidan had written. Unfolding the paper, he grinned unconsciously as he saw her neat print and the smudges that her hand had made traveling down the page; a hazard of being left-handed, as he had constantly teased her.

_Sirius –_

_I'm not sure what exactly I should say, but let me start off with this. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I reacted the way I did when I found out who killed him, and I'm sorry for the way I left. I know it's not your fault, and that you don't hold the same views your family does, but I loved him, and now he's gone. It's just hard to think that I'll never see him again. And then, the second I find out that he's gone and it was your aunt who killed him, you were there. You may think I hate you and never want to speak to you again, but it's just the opposite. I'm in love with you, Sirius, and nothing anyone else does or says is going to change that. Even if your aunt is the reason my brother is dead, it doesn't change the way I feel about you. I know I'm a coward for having to send you a letter and not tell you this to your face, but I don't know if I could endure that, particularly because I don't know if you feel the same way. Anyhow, I suppose I'll see you after the holidays, I should be coming back to school then._

_Love always,_

Aidan

Sirius finished reading the letter and sat in shocked silence for a moment, before he was broken out of his thoughts by laughter coming from James.

"Brilliant, she got me a set of Kestrels Quidditch robes," he chortled, holding them up.

It was common knowledge amongst the Marauders and Aidan, who they had come to recognize as one, that James' favourite team was Puddlemere United, but as hers was the Kenmare Kestrels, she liked to taunt James.

"What'd she get you, Moony?" he said, still chuckling.

Remus grinned and held up a large and heavy looking book with a title that read: Understanding Lycanthropy: What to do When You're a Werewolf.

James' laughter, which had almost subsided, came back full force. "How about you Wormy?"

"She got me a book of Charms," Peter grinned as he scanned the table of contents, "looks like a few of these could be quite useful."

"Padfoot?"

Sirius turned back to the present; he had forgotten all about it, what with the others' amusement at their own gifts and the letter he had received. He grinned and picked it up, weighing it before starting on the paper.

"Remind me to send Aidan a thank you note after this," James said, looking at Sirius.

"What? Since when d'you write thank you notes for gifts?" Remus glanced up from his book.

"Not for the gift, for finally getting him back to normal," James replied, motioning toward Sirius.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "D'you lot mind if I open my gift now?"

The rest of the Marauders shrugged and went back to their presents as Sirius continued tearing the wrapping paper off his gift. As he opened it, he realized that the wrap was originally white, but had been covered by small drawings Aidan had done. He smiled at the pictures and turned his attention to the present, his mouth dropping open in surprise as he saw what it was.

Nestled inside the wrapping paper was a thin silver chain with a small charm in the shape of a four-leaf clover hanging off it. He recognized it as the one Aidan used to wear, the one that Declan had given her, the one that she never took off. He smiled and put it down, turning his attention to another small note. He picked it up and read it quickly.

_Sirius –_

_I didn't really have a choice with your gift. Whether I wanted to give it or you wanted to have it, you got my heart this Christmas. And the closest thing I had that showed it is this necklace. Wear it and know that my heart will always belong to you. I love you._

Aidan

He smiled as he looked down at the note before picking the necklace up again and examining it closely, noticing that it was encrusted with tiny emeralds. Undoing the clasp, he quickly fastened it around his neck, tucking it into his shirt. Another grin spread across his face as he glanced back at the notes. He knew she was coming back now, and he knew she was coming back to him.

**Ooh, it's getting interesting isn't it? Haha, please tell me what you think in a review!**


	10. Tell Me You Love Me

**insert preferred superhero tune here. mine is batman and here is chapter 10! Read, enjoy, and leave me a review, damn it! **

**Chapter 10**

Sirius frowned down at the piece of parchment and absently scratched his nose with the quill he was holding. He dipped the quill into a bottle of ink and held it over the paper, not sure what to write.

"Will you just get on with it?" Remus rolled his eyes.

The Marauders were sitting in their dormitory on Boxing Day, and Sirius was trying to write a letter to Aidan. The others had all written thank you notes to her, but Sirius had a bit more of an issue with his letter.

"I'm trying, Moony," Sirius said patronisingly. "You're not the one in love with her, are you?"

"Touché," James grinned.

"You do have a point," Remus said grudgingly. "Just hurry it up, I'm bored."

"Fine, fine," Sirius rolled his eyes, returning his attention to the parchment.

_Aidan –_

_Alright, so I really don't know what to say. I'm in love with you as well. I don't know how you could've thought that I wasn't; according to James and Remus I was painfully obvious about the whole thing. Anyhow, I suppose I just wanted to say thanks for the gift. I'm not going to keep it though. It's part of you and I'll just wear it till you get back. I've missed you, and I can't wait to see you again. Hurry back to school! I love you._

Sirius

He sighed in resignation and rolled the letter up before he could change anything. Standing up, he stretched before heading out the door and to the owlery. The others followed, shuffling out the door behind him. Once they had gotten there and Sirius sent his letter off with the most enormous barn owl he could find, they began discussing what to do with the rest of their day.

"It needs to be something big," James said, stamping his feet to keep warm. "We haven't done anything in a while."

"Why not?" Sirius asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Because of you," Remus shook his head disbelievingly. "Honestly, you should have seen yourself after she left."

"Oh, right," Sirius replied sheepishly, "was I that bad?"

"Worse," James grinned mischievously. "You are the reason people _don't_ fall in love."

"Shut it, James," Sirius said, shaking his head. "So what are we planning?"

"Hmm," James scratched his head thoughtfully. "I had this idea about a cactus and some fireworks but Moony finds it a bit too…"

"Dangerous?" Peter suggested.

"Fatal?" Sirius grinned.

"Disturbing," Remus corrected, shaking his head in James' general direction.

"I see," Sirius said thoughtfully before turning to James. "So what's this plan of yours?"

Things returned to normal, or as normal as things at Hogwarts could get, for the Marauders. Aidan wrote Sirius back two days after he had sent his letter. He awoke one day to find the huge barn owl perched on his chest, causing him to yell in fright and topple out of bed.

"Brilliant, Padfoot," James sniggered as Sirius stood up, gingerly rubbing his backside.

"Bloody effing owl," Sirius grumbled, picking up the letter it dropped and unrolling it. He felt his heart speed up as he recognized Aidan's neat handwriting.

_Dear Sirius,_

_What the hell was up with that owl? That thing could hardly fit through my window. Anyhow, I hope you're having a good break. I wish I was there with you lot. How are things at Hogwarts? Anything new with Moony, Prongs, and Wormy? I've been writing Lily and she said nothing's really happened so far, just something about a cactus and fireworks. Sounds like something James would think up. Well, I've got to go, Connor and Fergus are making me go play Quidditch with them. Love you._

Aidan

Sirius frowned. Aidan had loved Quidditch before, now her brothers had to force her to play it? "Aidan says hi," Sirius said, before grabbing a role of parchment and a quill off his bedside table. He unscrewed a bottle of ink and dipped the end of the feather in it before poising it over the paper.

"Wonderful. Tell your lover that we say hi, and that we want our partner in crime back with us," James said as he pulled his socks on.

"Right, will do," Sirius replied, beginning to scribble on the parchment.

_Aidan,_

_Thanks for the letter. I was afraid I might've scared you. Prongs and Moony are fine but Wormy's been acting a bit off lately. I'm not sure why. He disappeared a bit before Christmas and was gone for two days but when we asked him where he was he wouldn't say. He probably has some secret girlfriend or something. Anyways, as for the cactus and the fireworks – I'll tell you about it when you come back. Love you!_

Sirius

"Shut up, Prongs," Sirius said wearily as he rolled up his letter. James had been whining at him for the past few minutes that they needed to get up, they could be spending this valuable time pranking someone rather than sitting here writing letters.

"Maybe if you'd hurry up and write I wouldn't have to say anything," James said, sounding highly offended.

"Yeah, that'll be the day," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Let's go," Sirius suggested, standing up and stretching.

He quickly tied the letter to the owl's leg and got dressed, heading down the stairs with the other Marauders a few minutes later. They went to the Great Hall for breakfast and ate before heading out onto the grounds. James quickly spotted his favourite target and he and Sirius headed straight for Snape while Remus and Peter trailed after.

The next day James and Sirius were scrubbing out the toilets in the boys' lavatory on the fourth floor. Sirius groaned as he scrubbed harder at a spot that did not seem to want to be removed. He gave up, tossing the brush across the room and collapsing on the floor. James quickly followed suit, letting out an annoyed sigh as he joined Sirius.

"Why must McGonagall always catch us when we're hexing Snivellus?" James asked sadly, staring at his pruny fingers.

"No idea, but I don't think I'll be able to straighten my legs for a year," Sirius replied, wincing as he attempted to do so. "Kneeling on the floor for an hour is murder on your knees."

James nodded in agreement when they were interrupted by a tapping noise. Sirius looked up to see the owl he had sent to Aidan perched outside the window. He hurriedly threw the window open and excitedly snatched the roll of parchment off the bird's leg.

"Is it from your lover?" James asked as he prodded the bird with a toilet brush, causing it to click its beak angrily.

"Yeah," Sirius said, scanning the parchment. The note was short, but it brought a grin to his face. "She's coming back to school tomorrow!"

"Wonderful," James said happily, pausing and looking at Sirius. He paid for this lapse in concentration with a hard nip from the owl.

"Brilliant, Prongs," Sirius chortled as James swore loudly, grabbed some toilet paper, and held it to his bleeding lip.

"Shut up," James replied, voice muffled.

"Hey, d'you have a quill I could borrow? I want to write her back so she'll know I got this," Sirius said, searching his pockets for a quill he knew wasn't there.

"Yeah, here," James quickly searched through his own pockets, pulling out a very old and battered quill.

Sirius took the quill from him and quickly wrote a response on the back of the letter, sending the owl off again. It looked rather pleased to be going away from James, but not as pleased as Prongs himself.

"I hate that bird," James said, staring after the animal with a feral glint in his eye.

"Calm down, Prongs," Sirius grinned. "Let's tell Moony and Wormy the good news."

"Right , since McGonagall would let us and all," James replied sourly.

"Actually, she may," Professor McGonagall's voice said.

James and Sirius spun around to see her standing in the doorway. "You may go back to your common room now. But if I see you hexing Mr. Snape again…" she trailed off threateningly.

"Yes, Professor," James and Sirius chorused before scooting out the door.

They quickly made their way up the stairs and to the seventh floor. Sirius gave the password to the Fat Lady and he and James tumbled through the portrait hole, into the common room which was empty save for Remus.

"Where's Pete?" Sirius asked, pausing as he noticed the absence of his shortest friend.

"Dunno," Remus replied, shrugging, "he disappeared again."

"Well, guess what," Sirius replied, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Aidan's coming back tomorrow!"

"Brilliant, I've missed her," Remus grinned.

Sirius grinned back. "So have I, Moony."

**Woo! How exciting was that? Not very, I know. Please review. It would be lovely if you did. and I'm incredibly, incredibly, incredibly, incredibly, incredibly sorry it took me so long to update. I'll try to be quicker now.**


	11. She's Back

**Sorry I've been gone so long! I totally lost track of my ff account in between high school and college and then life happened and I got super distracted. Anyways, I found my folder with all the chapter of this story that I'd already written on my old desktop and I figured that I'd upload them here since you guys have been so patient. Sorry again!**

**Usual disclaimer rubbish, I don't own them, blah blah blah. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 11**

Sirius frowned in concentration as he tried to smooth down a lock of hair. He ignored James' cough and continued with his attempt to control his hair. Once it was finally tamed, he straightened his jacket and with one last glance in the mirror, turned out of the bathroom.

"It's about time," Remus said, stretching and standing up.

"Sure you don't need to fix your makeup before we go?" James asked sarcastically, causing Peter to giggle.

"Sod off," Sirius replied. "When did you get back, Pete?"

"Umm, I-I was here last night," Peter stuttered, hurriedly looking down and searching for a sock.

"Alright," Sirius said skeptically, turning to the others. "So what d'you want to do?"

"Let's find Snivellus," James suggested.

Ten minutes later they were down at the edge of the lake. Their search for Snape had turned up nothing; no one seemed to know where he was, nor had they seen him for the past few days. Sirius shrugged this thought off and instead returned his mind to Aidan; he could hardly contain his excitement over the fact that she was returning. The Marauders sat down in the shade of a large beech tree by the lake deciding to enjoy the last of their break.

"Padfoot!"

Sirius jerked upright and turned to see Aidan running toward him at full tilt. Her rucksack, scarf, and gloves were strewn across the ground behind her; it looked as if she had dropped them while she was running. She was moving so fast that he had hardly enough time to stand up before she slammed into him with surprising force, coming from a person so small.

"Aidan," he replied blankly; his brain seemed to be stunned.

She buried her face into his neck, which seemed to awaken him. He wrapped his arms firmly around her slim waist and lifted her in the air; she seemed thinner than before. Aidan wrapped her arms around his neck and held onto him tightly.

"I missed you," she whispered. He shivered as he felt her lips move against his neck.

"I missed you too," he replied softly, kissing her hair and setting her on the ground.

Aidan looked up at him and gave him a lopsided grin, her blue eyes narrowed against the bright sunlight. Sirius hesitantly ducked down and kissed her, but the moment his lips touched hers the indecision vanished. A fire lit under his skin wherever they touched and his thoughts became hazy. All he could think about was Aidan, and the feel of his lips against hers. He was shocked, but not displeased by the ferocity of the kiss; teeth, tongue, and lips clashing together.

Someone started clapping, causing Aidan to blush and pull away, gasping for breath as he himself was. Sirius looked up to see James grinning at him and applauding. He chuckled as the colour slowly faded from Aidan's cheeks.

"Nice one, mate," James chuckled as Sirius and Aidan turned toward him.

"Thanks," Sirius grinned back.

"Hi," Aidan said, giving James a small smile, before noticing his swollen lip. "What'd you do to your lip?"

"Prongs doesn't get on well with birds," Sirius sniggered.

"Blaze. I missed you," James said, picking her up and placing a wet, sloppy kiss on her cheek, ignoring Sirius' comment.

"Blaze?" Both Sirius and Aidan looked up at James, frowning in confusion.

"Moony and I came up with it," James shrugged casually. "She has a red coat, yeah?"

"Well, I missed you too, Prongs," she grinned and hugged him back. "And I like the name."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, thrusting his hands into his pockets to keep them warm. "It's fitting."

Aidan grinned before turning to greet Remus. "Hey, Moony," she said, looking up at him.

"Hi, Aidan," he replied, smiling at her.

Aidan grinned back and hugged him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her head in his chest. "I missed you, Moony."

He kissed her on the cheek and then she turned to greet Peter. After the hellos had been exchanged the Marauders all sat down at the base of the tree again. James was sprawled on his stomach, watching a group of girls out of the corner of his eye, Peter was sitting behind him, looking nervous and agitated, and Remus was lying on his back, reading a book. Sirius sat with his legs stretched out in front of him, leaning against the tree trunk, Aidan curled up next to him. She rested her head against his chest and he linked his fingers into hers, bringing their hands up to his lips and kissing the back of hers.

"Padfoot?" Aidan said after a few minutes of sitting in silence.

"Hmm?" he looked down at her.

"I love you," she replied quietly, kissing his fingertips and closing her eyes.

"Love you too," he replied, elated.

A few minutes later, after feeling Aidan shivering against him, Sirius suggested that they go back to the common room. James nodded and stood up, stretching. Remus and Peter followed suit and Aidan jumped up, pulling Sirius up by his hands. She led the group back toward the school, pausing on the way to pick up her belongings. Once she had stuffed the hat and gloves back into her rucksack and slung it over her shoulder they walked into the castle, hurrying up to Gryffindor tower. Aidan ran up to the girls' dormitory and put her things away before returning to the common room and dropping down into an armchair, on top of Sirius.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her neck, his skin burning where they made contact. Aidan shivered and squeezed his hand before leaning against him and staring at the fire. Sirius rested his head against hers and joined her in gazing at the flames. He wanted to freeze this moment forever; not worrying about anything, just sitting in the warm common room with Aidan in his lap.

**Next chapter should be up sometime within the next couple days, unless you'd rather I just blocked them all together. Only reason I'm not doing that now is because work is crazy and the internet is patchy tonight. Thanks guys!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry about the wait. My internet connection was pretty crappy last time I updated and then I just got distracted with work and everything. I'm going to post the rest of what I have written now, so it'll be four more chapters after this. I'm contemplating just trying to finish the story but we'll see how it goes. Enjoy!**

**Also, insert disclaimer here.**

**Also, also, forgive any mistakes. My beta got lost after chapter 10 so they all belong to me personally. And sometimes they just make me wonder if my brain decided to take a vacation for a few seconds at a time.**

**Chapter 12**

Sirius groaned as he felt something thump against his back. Raising his head a fraction, he saw James standing by the door, pulling on his robes. "Get up, Padfoot."

So that was it. The holidays were over and now classes had resumed. Fate must hate him. He yawned widely and stretched, cracking his back.

"It's too early to be up," he complained, dropping back down against his pillow.

"Get up you lazy bastard," James walked over to his bed. "If you sleep any longer you'll be late for Potions."

"Fine with me," Sirius said.

James chuckled. "Alright, suit yourself. Don't blame me if you get detention though, you stupid sod."

"You're a right pain in the arse, you know that?" Sirius groaned as he sat up.

James simply shrugged. "Hurry up."

Sirius shook his head and began dressing. He quickly changed into a fresh pair of pants and a new shirt before tossing on his robes and running a hand through his hair. After he had finished with this he grabbed his schoolbag and Transfiguration book and slouched down the stairs into the common room with James.

They met Remus and Peter in the Great Hall and after greeting them, Sirius began to search for Aidan. He frowned as he didn't see her at the Gryffindor table and quickly scanned the others, wondering where she was.

"Where's Blaze?" he turned to Remus, who looked surprised.

"I dunno, we thought she'd be with you lot," he replied, shrugging, as they moved toward the Entrance Hall.

"Oy, Blaze," James called, startling them. "Where'd you get to?"

Sirius looked up to see Aidan heading down the stairs, schoolbag slung haphazardly over her shoulder, her robes pooling around her elbows.

She grimaced. "James was acting his usual bloody stupid self."

"Yeah, he tends to do that," Remus grinned, throwing a sidelong look at James.

"Oy, I resent that remark," James said, taking a swing at Remus.

Aidan rolled her eyes, a crooked half-smile gracing her lips. "Aye, well I'm going to Potions. Anyone else planning on coming?"

Sirius sighed as they headed down to the dungeons together, dreading class with the Slytherins. Despite the Ravenclaws reputation for intelligence, the advanced potions class contained only two of them, plus most of the sixth year Gryffindors, and every bloody Slytherin in sixth year.

They arrived outside the classroom a few minutes early to find the Slytherins grouped outside the door. Aidan went to chat with Lily, leaving the Marauders to talk and joke amongst themselves as they waited for Professor Slughorn to open the classroom door. After a few minutes Sirius' head snapped up as he zeroed in on Snape, having heard him say something about 'the Irish prick not even being worth it'.

"What the hell are you on about, Snivellus?" he snapped roughly, cursing internally as he caught sight of Aidan's expression, praying that she wouldn't do anything rash.

"Nothing," Snape sneered, "Just your girlfriend's good-for-nothing brother. Say, O'Farrell, how long d'you think the rest of your lot will last? I mean-"

He was cut off as Lily shrieked, "Aidan, no!" and Sirius felt something connect with his shoulder, knocking him off balance. He straightened, realizing that Aidan had shot past him, and looked up in time to see her launch herself at Snape.

Whatever he had been expecting, this was not it. Sirius almost laughed aloud at the shocked expression on Snape's face as Aidan slammed into him. Despite his being at least half a foot taller than her and a good bit heavier, her five-foot-four, one hundred and seven pound frame managed to tackle Snape to the ground and was now being pulled off by James and Remus after having delivered a few good punches.

Sirius hurried to help James and Remus, who were visibly struggling with Aidan, who in turn was struggling to get back at Snape and, by the looks of it, was putting up a good fight.

"Get off me, Padfoot," Aidan snarled, trying to free herself of him and the others.

"No," he said firmly. As much as he wanted to see Snape receive his due, he didn't want Aidan to have detention till the end of term. "Leave it, Blaze."

"No chance," she snapped back, "I'm going to murder him."

Sirius fought back a grin. He couldn't help the fact that Aidan was irresistible when she was angry. Flushed cheeks, eyes bright, small body tensed for a fight, it was enough to capture anyone's heart. However, smiling would only enrage her further, and they were already having enough trouble keeping her away from Snape. "Leave it," he repeated, glancing back to see Snape climb to his feet, glaring at Aidan.

She immediately stopped struggling, glaring daggers at Sirius, who, in turn, cringed. He loosened his grip on her, Remus and James following his example, ready to grab her again if she moved towards Snape. In one swift movement she tore away from them and spun around, stalking back up the staircase and disappearing around the corner. Sirius made to follow her, but just then the classroom door opened and Professor Slughorn ushered them inside.

Sirius sat down at his usual table with the Marauders and the lesson began. Luckily the lesson wasn't the kind that required his full attention; had it been, he surely would have received bottom marks. He glanced over the top of his cauldron as he stirred his potion, staring at the table Aidan usually occupied, with Lily and Keira, another sixth year Gryffindor. He wondered where she had gone and whether she would get into trouble for missing class. Doubtful; Aidan was one of Slughorn's favourites – her aptness in potion-making and sharp tongue had caused him to take an immediate liking to her.

By the time the lesson was over, Sirius was aching to get back to the common room and find out what Aidan was doing. He sped out of the classroom and up the stairs, barely pausing to wait for the others as they called for him to slow down. They arrived in the common room minutes later, surprised to find no trace of Aidan. Sirius headed up the stairs to his dormitory to pick up the Marauders Map in order to find Aidan, only to discover it wasn't needed.

Aidan was curled up in Remus' bed, staring out the open window. Why the window was open was beyond Sirius; the cold winter air had turned the room into an icebox.

"What're you doing up here?" Peter asked, breaking the awkward silence. "And why are you in Moony's bed?"

Aidan shrugged, her eyes still trained on the snowy landscape outside. "I can leave if you want."

"Nah, don't bother," James grinned, flopping down next to Aidan, his head nearly landing in her lap. "It's not often Moony arrives to find a pretty girl in his bed." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Remus, who promptly went pink in the face.

Aidan snorted as she absently began running her fingers through James' hair. "Probably more often than you do."

James gasped in mock hurt, clasping his hands over his chest as if he'd been stabbed in the heart. "You wound me with your sharp words. No, really, why're you up here?"

"Because, if I'm up here I won't get pestered endlessly about how I'm feeling, or if I want to talk about it," she replied, continuing to play with James' hair.

James chuckled. "That's how girls are," he said wisely. "They're genetically programmed to drive you mad by talking your ear off. Damn, Blaze, that feels so _good_." He sighed contentedly.

An amused smile graced Aidan's features as she continued to massage his scalp, before whacking him on the head. He yelped, jerking upright as he held his hands protectively in front of him.

"What was that for?" he complained, rubbing his head as he eyed her warily.

"That was for stopping me from killing Snivellus," Aidan said fiercely, reaching out and landing a punch in his ribs.

"Ouch!" James yelped, jumping off the bed and backing away from her. "Stay back! In my defense, I wasn't alone in that."

"I know," Aidan stopped chasing him to glare at Sirius and Remus, who started to back toward the door. "You bastards have it coming as well."

"Bloody hell, Aidan, we're just trying to protect you. You'll just get in trouble if you get into a fight with him," Sirius said uneasily as her cold blue eyes locked onto him in a glare that could have put a Basilisk to shame.

"Bullocks," she hissed, stepping towards them. "When has that ever stopped you from hexing him you bloody hypocrite?"

"Yeah, well," Sirius scrambled for something to say. "Honestly, Blaze, did you have to _jump_ him? He's twice your size."

"So?" Aidan narrowed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. Sirius had to admit, it was quite an intimidating picture, and he could tell by Remus' shudder that his werewolf friend agreed wholeheartedly.

"So? He could have hurt you, you bloody stupid Mick!" Sirius snapped back, losing patience with her obstinacy. "Don't you even care?"

"No, I don't," she retorted, her eyes blazing furiously. "That's my brother he's insulting. I don't give a damn if he bloody _kills_ me, but there isn't a snowball's chance in _hell_ that I'm going to sit back and let him insult Declan."

Enraged, Sirius closed the distance between him and Aidan in two long strides and gripped her shoulders. "Don't _ever_ say anything like that again!" He growled giving her a rough shake.

Unfazed, Aidan glared up at him. "Since when did you become so controlling, you bloody pig-headed bastard? It's not like I'll actually listen to you, much less obey you."

"It wouldn't kill you to try," Sirius growled, relaxing his grip on her shoulders.

"Maybe, but if you don't stop telling me what to do, one of us is going to end up dead, and I'm wagering it won't be me," Aidan retorted, tearing herself free from his grasp.

James sniggered, biting his lip to keep a straight face when they both turned to look at him. "So how come you didn't hit Padfoot?"

The tension in the room, which had previously been palpable, seemed to ease. Aidan made a face at James as Sirius snorted.

"Would you rather get whacked a couple times or get into an argument with her, Prongs?" Sirius asked grimly, his eyes twinkling.

"Good point," James amended, looking relieved by his good fortune. "How about Moony? She didn't do anything to him."

"Wouldn't you rather have already gotten your punishment over with?" Sirius asked, openly grinning now.

"You have a point," James frowned thoughtfully as he looked at Aidan, who hadn't moved from her spot.

"You'd better watch yourself, Moony," Sirius and James both chuckled as Aidan glared at them.

"You don't have to tell me that," Remus exaggerated a shudder, pretending to hide behind Sirius.

Aidan grinned at him, a smile that was never good news on anyone's face, especially hers. Remus visibly gulped and took a step back. Aidan giggled, dropping back onto Remus' bed as her laughter continued.

"You….bloody coward…." she managed to gasp between giggles. "….bloody werewolf….afraid of someone half his size…" she trailed of, sucking in deep breaths as she calmed down. "I love you, Moony."

"Hey, what about me?" Sirius whined, sitting next to her on the bed.

"I love you too," Aidan said, sitting up and locking eyes with him. "But if you ever try to stop me from killing Snape again, you're a dead man, aye?"

"I'll remember that," Sirius grinned, brushing his thumb across her cheek, feeling fire erupt between their skin.

"Well, I can't tell you how _fun_ this little chat has been, but if you're done threatening Padfoot's life, can we do something?" James dropped down next to Aidan.

"Like what?" Aidan turned to look at him as he placed an arm around her shoulders.

"Well, there's a load of lovely snow outside…." He trailed off, grinning, as the others immediately stood up.

"Well, what're we waiting for?" Sirius asked, tugging on Aidan's hand, but meeting with resistance. He frowned, turning back to look at her, finding that she was stretched out, leaning back in order to see out the window. "Something wrong, Blaze?"

"Hmm?" it sounded as if he had just pulled her out of her thoughts. "No, nothing. Let's go."

"Okay," Sirius frowned lightly as he pulled Aidan out the door.

"Time for you to get your arse kicked in a snowball fight, Padfoot," James said as they headed down the stairs and out of the castle.

**Woo. That was a crappy ending, I know. And kind of a crappy chapter. It really had no point, but I decided that you lot need to get to know Aidan better. What she does and says rather than just what Sirius thinks of her, yeah?**

**And I just realized that half of the remaining chapters are only half-finished. So I'll definitely try to round them out and hopefully they'll all be done in the next 24 hours.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Sirius groaned as they headed back into the castle after their snowball fight, wincing slightly. Unfortunately he and James had been partnered against Remus, Peter, and Aidan. The logic was that Aidan and Peter were both small and weak enough to be considered half a person. What flawed logic. As well as having the most powerful throw he had ever seen on a female, Aidan seemed determined to punish him even further for keeping her from attacking Snape.

"You alright, Padfoot?" Aidan cocked her head, grinning, as they entered the Charms classroom and took their seats.

Sirius stopped rubbing his shoulder, where a large ball of ice thrown incredibly hard by Aidan had hit him, and glared at her. "Fine."

James groaned as he sank down into a chair next to Sirius. "Speak for yourself. I swear I'm covered from head to toe in bruises. Next time, I'm with Blaze."

Aidan turned and winked at them before returning her attention to the essay that she was finishing up. She scribbled a few more sentences and threw her quill down, turning completely around in her chair to grin at them.

"You doing alright?" she smirked, an eyebrow raised inquisitively.

Sirius moaned in pain. "Does it look like we're doing alright? You've got a bloody cannon for an arm."

Aidan shrugged. "If you grew up with a load of older brothers, you'd understand. Besides, you deserved it."

"How?" Sirius whined, rubbing his arm. "I didn't do anything to you."

"Hey, it was you or Snape," she raised a shoulder before letting it fall. "You made the decision here."

"Next time, we're letting her kill Snivellus," James said, wincing as he stretched.

Professor Flitwick approached the front of the classroom and began their lesson. Sirius tried to pay attention but couldn't stop moaning over the bruises he was sure were forming all over his body. The fact that Aidan kept smirking every time she heard him didn't help improve his mood. Once the bell rang he was out of his seat and moving towards the door as fast as he could.

"Slow down, Padfoot," Aidan called, grinning as he turned back to look at her.

He slowed his pace, allowing the other Marauders to catch up to him. They headed toward Gryffindor tower to relax before dinner; Charms had been their last class of the day. They arrived in the common room to find it completely empty, a rare occurrence. Nonetheless, he continued up the stairs to the dormitory, the others following after him.

"Finally, peace," he groaned, dropping his bag on the floor and shedding his robes on top of it.

"Say, Padfoot, shouldn't you wait until we're gone before you start stripping for Blaze?" James asked, collapsing onto his bed.

Sirius added his tie and shirt to the pile and groaned. "Damn it, Blaze."

Aidan's eyes widened as Remus whistled. "Damn, Blaze," he echoed. "I'm glad I was on your team."

Sirius sighed as he approached the floor length mirror propped against the wall near the bathroom. Wincing, yet again, he traced the faint outline of a bruise on his chest. He looked up as he saw Aidan's reflection smiling faintly at him as she sat on the windowsill by his bed. He was surprised to see tears glittering on her cheeks.

"Are you okay?" he quickly turned and headed over to her.

Aidan started, hurriedly wiping her eyes before smiling at him. "Fine, why?"

"Fine. Right," Sirius rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall. "Bullocks."

"I'm fine," she insisted, turning to face him.

Sirius shook his head as he saw the familiar stubborn set of her jaw. "Liar. But seeing as how I'll never get you to tell me, I expect I'll have to let it go."

"I like your plan," Aidan grinned as he pulled her up, hugging her from behind.

"Too bad I'm not going to," Sirius replied, pushing her hair away from her neck with his nose and biting her gently.

Aidan hummed contentedly and pressed back against him. "I think you should."

"I don't," he said, breathing in deeply. "Mmmm, you smell so good."

"Umm, thanks?" Aidan squirmed and tried to push him away but he simply tightened his grip. She suddenly stilled and, thinking something was wrong, Sirius loosened his grip to turn her to face him. He blinked in confusion as she tore away from him and ran to the window, yanking it open.

"Padfoot," she said, leaning dangerously far out the gaping hole. "Come have a look at this."

"Be careful, you stupid git, you'll fall out the window," Sirius yelped, stepping closer and latching an arm around her waist. Aidan rolled her eyes as she straightened up. "Besides, I don't see anything," he murmured, nuzzling her neck. She pushed him off impatiently and motioned out the window.

"Look, they're heading toward the forest," she said, turning to look at him, expecting him to be the least bit interested.

The moment she turned around, however, Sirius pressed his lips to hers. She made an impatient noise but he placed on hand on her back, all common sense going out the window as he felt her lips brush his again. Aidan kissed him back, biting down on his lower lip, causing him to yelp and pull away as the others roared with laughter.

"Now that I have your attention, look out the damned window," she said, pointing toward the forest.

Sirius glowered at her, running his tongue over his swollen lip as he glanced out the window. His gaze flitted around before locking on to two solitary figures in black cloaks, prowling toward the Forbidden Forest. He narrowed his eyes, squinting at them, sure that it must be some mistake.

"Why the hell is Regulus with Snivellus again?" he said, causing the others to jump up and crowd around the window.

"What's dear old Snivelly up to?" James asked, leaning out.

"And where're they headed?" Remus said thoughtfully.

Sirius turned back to the others and frowned; Aidan wasn't there anymore. He turned as he heard a noise near the door and was surprised to see her standing there, tapping her foot impatiently, her eyes glinting.

"Well?" she raised an eyebrow. "Are we following them or not? And Prongs, you're about to fall."

"Don't worry about me, Blaze," James leant back in and grinned widely. "Let's go. I'll grab the Cloak."

Remus rolled his eyes and sighed, before grinning. "I guess I'm in."

Peter nodded and Aidan grinned broadly, turning to Sirius.

"You coming, Padfoot?"

"Yeah, but I dunno if you should. Knowing Snape and Reg, it could be something dangerous," Sirius frowned lightly.

"There is no way I'm staying here," Aidan narrowed her eyes, "I'm not going to miss all the fun."

"I just want you to stay safe," Sirius protested.

"Really, Padfoot? Do you _want_ me to kill you?" her tone was light, but with an edge that caused him to recall what happened earlier that day, when they had pulled her off of Snape.

Sirius groaned reluctantly. "Not in particular. Ah, who knows, maybe I'll be able to talk some sense into you yet."

"Good luck," Aidan snorted as the others cheered and scampered out the door.

Aidan turned to follow them but Sirius stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"You'll be careful?" he asked her.

Her eyes narrowed into icy blue slits. "I'm really starting to think you want to die, Padfoot."

"I'm serious," he said sternly. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Aidan fired up. "You sit there and have the bloody gall to tell me-"

Sirius cut her off, covering her mouth with his own. Making sure to retain control of his senses, even though it burned like hellfire wherever he touched her, he pulled away as he felt her give in, smirking at her scowl.

"What?" Sirius said innocently. Aidan continued to glare at him. "Oh, are you upset that my awesome powers of persuasion managed to conquer you?"

Now it was Aidan's turn to smirk. Sirius gulped uneasily as she stepped closer, her bright blue eyes boring into his.

"What's wrong, Padfoot?" she asked quietly, straightening his tie and trying not to smile.

"You're not going to get me with this, I-" Sirius trailed off as Aidan tugged on his tie, pulling his head down so his mouth could meet hers. He kissed her fiercely, all lucid thought evaporating as she touched him. A moment later, Aidan pulled away, grinning as Sirius growled at her.

"Let's go," she said, slipping out of his grip and turning toward the door. "I wanna see what Snape and Reg are up to."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Ouch, damn it, Prongs," Sirius swore as they carefully crept down the steps and onto the castle grounds.

The five of them were crowded under James' Invisibility Cloak, Peter and Aidan having transformed to give them more room. James shrugged and led them out on the grounds, Peter squeaking as Remus shoved him into his pocket. Sirius grinned down at Aidan, who was grudgingly allowing Sirius to carry her, lips pulled back over her teeth, daring him to laugh at her. He couldn't help but chuckle and yelped when he felt her sharp fox teeth clamp down on his finger. Glaring at her, he yanked his hand away and sucked on his bitten finger.

"Think we're good to take the Cloak off now?" Remus whispered as they made it into the shadows of the forest.

"Yeah," James pulled it over their heads and shoved it into his pocket as Remus dropped Peter on the ground and Sirius did likewise with Aidan, scratching her behind the ears. She turned sharply, growling at him. He grinned and started to straighten up, but before he could he was flat on his back, Aidan crouched on his chest.

"Ouch, Blaze," he groaned and tried to push her off, but it was quite difficult seeing as she had changed back to human.

Aidan continued to sit on his chest, knees trapping his arms to his sides. "Just because I'm changed doesn't mean that you get to treat me like an animal, aye? Keep on with this and I'll make sure you regret the day you were born."

"Fine," Sirius squirmed, managing to get his arms free, and quickly rolled over so he was propped above Aidan and grinned wickedly. "So how were you gonna do that?"

Quick as lightning, Aidan gripped his arms and raised her knee, pressing it threateningly against his groin. Sirius gulped and relaxed his grip on her, slowly sitting back.

"Touché," he muttered, glaring at her as she smiled sweetly, before he turned to the others. "So. Where'd they get to?"

"Dunno," Remus answered, peering around. "Let's find them, shall we?"

Sirius and James grinned and followed after Aidan, who had slipped off noiselessly and was now a good ways ahead of them. After a few minutes of fruitless searching James groaned, punching a tree in frustration.

"Where are they?" he wondered, his hand straying to his hair and rumpling it.

"Maybe they're by Hagrid's?" Sirius said, without any conviction.

Aidan groaned and threw herself on the ground. Sirius raised an eyebrow as she closed her eyes and placed her hand over them, effectively blocking out any light. Sirius sat down next to her, stretching his legs out in front of him and leaning back on his elbows.

"This is boring," he yawned, his head lolling back as he turned his face up to soak in the thin streams of sunlight that penetrated the canopy of leaves.

"Aye," Aidan agreed, squinting through her fingers up at James and Remus, who were still standing. "I don't think we're going to find them."

James shook his head dejectedly. "Shame, I really fancied finding out what Regulus was doing with old Snivelly."

"So did I," Aidan bit her lip in frustration. "Where the hell are they?"

James shrugged. "I dunno."

"Me neither," Sirius shrugged, playing with a few strands of Aidan's hair, "we'll follow them some other time, yeah?"

"I suppose," she said, annoyed. "I really fancied finding out what they were doing."

Sirius frowned, he'd expected to be the one to be most disappointed by the disappearance of the Slytherins, but Aidan seemed extremely displeased. She sat up, stretching her legs and pulling off her trainers. James picked one up and shook his head in amazement.

"Blaze, your feet are damn small," he commented, holding up her shoe.

Aidan shrugged. "It happens. Everyone in me family has small feet. Except me mam."

Sirius grinned and pulled her legs across his lap. She smiled back at him and stretched her feet; wrinkling her nose in disgust as they cracked. James flopped down on the ground, his head lolling into Aidan's lap and he grinned up at her.

"Hi, Prongs," she grinned, combing her fingers through his dark hair and rumpling it playfully. "What's up?"

"Nothing, Blaze," he answered, grinning broadly. "You're looking beautiful today."

"Thanks, Prongs," Aidan giggled and kissed his forehead.

"We should head back to the castle soon," Remus said, dropping down next to Aidan and Sirius.

"Why?" Sirius asked, leaning back and stretching. "It's Friday, we don't have school tomorrow."

"Well, for one, I'm tired, and second, Wormtail's starving," he jerked his head in Peter's general direction. Peter blushed and shrugged.

"Nice, Wormtail," Sirius shook his head, grinning.

Aidan sighed and sat up, leaning back against Sirius' chest. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed along her neck, making his way up to her mouth. James wolf-whistled and Remus shook his head, cuffing James on the shoulder. Sirius gave them the finger but otherwise ignored them as he kissed Aidan. It wasn't long before they both pulled away, gasping for breath.

"Could you find a more private place to do that?" James shook his head, grinning.

"You don't have to watch," Sirius replied, kissing her again.

"Yeah, Padfoot, it's rather hard to ignore you two moaning and panting like a couple dogs getting it on," James replied.

Aidan turned and smirked at him. "Don't be jealous, Prongs. I'm sure you could find someone to do this with. Even if it's not Lily." She grinned evilly.

"Thanks for your sympathy," James said sarcastically.

"Anytime," Aidan grinned.

"We probably ought to go back up to the castle," James said, standing up unwillingly.

"Yeah, we should," Sirius said as the others stood, save for Aidan who remained on the forest floor. "Blaze?"

"I'll just stay out here, aye?" she looked up at him. "I'll come in later."

Sirius snorted. "Yeah right. Come on, you stubborn Mick."

Aidan shook her, grinning as Sirius glared at her. "Try and make me."

Sirius raised his eyebrow at the challenge and bent down, dragging Aidan up with him. She squirmed as he kissed her neck, gently biting at it. "If you actually weighed something; that might be difficult," he retorted, tucking his chin over her shoulder. "Eat a bloody sandwich sometime." The last comment came out a bit more bitter than he'd meant it to and he winced as he felt Aidan stiffen.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aidan replied, wriggling out of his grip. "Do you think I'm starving myself or something?"

"No, I think you're the skinniest, most beautiful girl I've ever met," Sirius said sincerely, which was true. He was just concerned about her through this whole situation. "I love you."

"Love you too," she replied, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face into his chest.

"Much as I _love_ watching you two getting cozy, can we please go back to the common room?" James spoke up, grinning at them.

Sirius rolled his eyes and started back toward the castle, linking his fingers with Aidan's. He snorted quietly as he saw the black polish that covered her short nails and raised an eyebrow at her. She simply shrugged and tugged on his arm to hurry him along.

Once they finally made it back to the common room they flopped down on chairs in front of the fire, save for Aidan, who stretched and bid them goodnight.

"What, you're going to bed?" Sirius said, annoyed.

"Aye," she replied, raising an eyebrow. "Is there a problem with that?"

"It's only eight thirty," he pointed out.

Aidan shrugged. "I'm tired. I'll see you tomorrow."

Sirius stood up to kiss her goodnight, watching as she climbed the staircase to the girls' dormitory. He then turned and dropped back down onto a chair next to James.

"She's different," James said quietly, eyes thoughtful.

"Yeah," Remus nodded. "Once upon a time she would have come up to our room with us and stayed there till two in the morning."

Sirius smiled at the memories. "D'you reckon she'll ever be the same?"

"I hope so," Remus said, leaning against the back of his chair. "D'you know, I don't even remember the last time I saw her actually _laugh_."

"Me neither," Sirius sighed. "I swear, I feel like she's _trying _to get herself killed. Like today. First she goes after Snivelly before potions and then she takes off after him in the forest."

"So did we," Remus pointed out, shrugging. "It's not exactly something you can pass up."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "We had wands."

"What? She didn't have her wand with her?" Remus' eyebrows shot up in surprise. "She's not that stupid."

"But she is that reckless," Sirius countered, shaking his head. "I just wish she'd let us help her."

"Blaze hates pity, Padfoot," Remus said, standing up and stretching. "She doesn't want people to do stuff for her because they feel bad for her."

Sirius shrugged as they headed up the stairs toward the dormitory. "Still. It's not like we're just any random people. We're her friends."

"Which, in her view, makes it that much worse," Remus shrugged. "She doesn't want us to feel like we owe her something."

Sirius shook his head in wonder. "Moony, it scares me that you know my girlfriend better than I do."

Remus snorted. "When _haven't_ I known your girlfriend better than you did?"

"True," Sirius conceded, looking abashed. "But this one…"

"I know," Remus grinned as he dropped onto his bed. "I never thought I'd see the day when you finally settled on one person. Gods, I love that girl."

"Thanks Moony," Sirius held his hand over his heart. "You wound me with your implications."

"Go to sleep, Padfoot," Remus rolled his eyes and pulled his sheets over him. "Night."

"Night, Mooners," he replied, tugging his clothes off, so he was clad only in his boxers, before climbing in bed. Within moments he was asleep.


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry, sorry! Every time I think I'm good to post everything I find something else wrong with the chapters. Example: these last two had absolutely no plot and were half-finished. As such, I tried to at least get them to a decent ending point, so in theory it shouldn't be too abrupt. I'm trying to get the other one finished tonight as well, but I apologize if it isn't. It'll definitely be up in the next two days though.**

**Chapter 15**

Sirius woke at his usual time the next morning, despite going to bed shortly after nine. He yawned and stretched, wrenching apart the hangings of his four poster and blinking at the bright grey sunlight streaming through the windows. James and Peter were still asleep, Bill wasn't in the dormitory, and Remus was curled in his bed, reading. The corner of Sirius' mouth twitched, he was certain that Aidan was in a similar position in her dormitory or possibly in the common room.

"Morning, Moony," Sirius yawned, stretching.

"Morning, Padfoot," Remus raised an eyebrow, a sardonic grin pulling at his mouth. "Have a nice night?"

"Yeah. Why?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

"No reason," Remus shrugged, grinning widely. "Just wondering."

"Bastard," Sirius muttered, grabbing his towel. "Damn I'm glad it's the weekend."

Remus nodded and returned to his book. Sirius decided that, as long as he was up, he may as well take a shower, so he grabbed his towel and some clothes and made for the bathroom. He quickly cleaned off and climbed into his clothes, toweling his hair dry as he stepped back into the room. James and Peter were now awake and in various states of dress as he dropped his damp towel on the floor and threw his pajamas in his trunk.

"Where's Blaze?" Sirius asked, noticing the lack of her usual presence.

"Dunno," James shrugged, pulling a t-shirt over his head. "Let's check out the common room."

"Alright," Sirius ran a hand through his hair as they filed out the door and down the stairs.

The common room was crowded with sixth and seventh years, the result of loads of homework piled on by their teachers. Sirius spotted Aidan sitting with Lily at a table laden with heavy books. Aidan was flipping through a book on Ancient Runes, looking completely uninterested as Lily worked feverishly at her essay. They chatted for a moment, then Lily gave Aidan a brief hug and hurried up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. Aidan turned and ambled over to the Marauders.

"What's up?" she asked, perching on the arm of Sirius' chair.

"Apart from the recent abandonment of my so called girlfriend?" Sirius replied, tugging her into his lap. "Nothing."

Aidan rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to ditch all my other friends for you, Padfoot."

James chuckled as Sirius pouted. Aidan leaned back and smirked up at him as he gave her a pitiful look and kissed the underside of his jaw, the only spot she could reach. Sirius responded by nuzzling her neck, gently biting. Aidan jerked upright and pushed him away, glaring.

"Sod off," she said, trying to grab his wrists before he could get a hold on her. "I'm not going to snog you in the common room in full view of all these people."

"Why not?" he grinned suggestively as he got one arm loose and let his hand glide steadily up Aidan's thigh. "I'll tell them not to look."

"Stop it, Padfoot," Aidan hissed, slapping her hand down over his, halting his progress up her leg.

"No, thanks," his eyes glittered mischievously as he leaned closer to Aidan.

"Let's go to the lake," she suggested loudly, leaping off Sirius' lap and bounding toward the door before he could stop her.

James grinned and followed, throwing his arm around her shoulders in a quick hug as Sirius grumbled, trailing after the others. They stepped through the portrait hole, and as soon as they were in the deserted corridor, Sirius set off after Aidan again.

"Padfoot, leave me alone," she danced away from him, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth as she evaded another grab.

"Don't mind him, Blaze," Remus said as they walked down the hall. "You're the only girl he's ever gone with that wouldn't snog him in public. I expect he's just a horny bastard right now."

Sirius glared at Remus and Aidan stopped dead in the hallway, causing Sirius to crash into her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lightly bit her neck but she didn't seem to notice.

"Really?" She stared at Remus, intrigued. "So they just went at it in the middle of all that?"

Remus nodded, grinning at her expression as she turned to Sirius. "That's _disgusting,_ Padfoot! Who the hell did you date that would do that?"

Sirius' cheeks flushed as he narrowed his eyes at Remus before turning back to Aidan, unwilling to meet her eyes as he mumbled, "No one."

"Come on, Padfoot," Aidan coaxed, grinning. "I won't get mad, I'm just curious. Pleeeease?" She let her lower lip stick out in a pout as she looked up at Sirius with wide blue eyes.

"Ann Hooper. Mary Nolan. Payton George. Molly Brown. Elizabeth Cooney," Sirius grimaced, unwilling to believe that he was actually telling Aidan all this; hoping that any moment he would wake up and find that this was all a dream.

Aidan snorted with laughter, surprising him. "Jaysus. Is that all?"

"Not even close," James cut in, dodging the punch that Sirius aimed at him. "He had at least a dozen others. Including our own dear Keira."

Laughter bubbled out of Aidan, freer than Sirius had heard it since she had returned. "Really? And it's not awkward for you two?"

"Shut up, Prongs, that was first year," he snapped at James, knowing that his face must be glowing by now.

"Awwww," Aidan grinned up at him. "Was she your first Hogwarts kiss?"

"Yeah," Sirius said, unabashedly, shrugging.

"How about your first kiss?" she asked, interested.

"Yes," he said stiffly, glaring at her when she giggled. "Well how about you? Who was your first kiss?"

James sniggered. "This should be interesting."

Aidan's giggles subsided and she grinned up at Sirius. "Finley. A neighbor of mine."

"When was this?" Sirius grinned evilly as a light blush crept up Aidan's cheeks.

"When I was eight," she replied, looking up, a dreamy expression on her face that had Sirius slightly worried. "Ahh, you should have been there. Ronan punched him on the nose when he found out that Fin had snogged his baby sister."

James snorted with laughter. "How old was the poor bloke?"

"Eh, he's two years ahead of me," Aidan shrugged.

"So you had blokes following you that young, yeah?" Remus shook his head, grinning as Aidan blushed.

"Not after that," she grinned when he shot her a disbelieving look. "Alright, so maybe they were just more….discreet about it after that happened."

James grinned. "I'll wager they were. So did he beat up any other blokes?"

"I don't think so," Aidan chewed her lip thoughtfully.

Sirius chuckled. "Okay. So who was your first Hogwarts kiss?"

"Do tell," James' eyes lit up as he turned to her. "It'll be someone we actually know."

Aidan pressed her lips together as her cheeks glowed. "I don't think you want to hear."

"Why not? It wasn't a Slytherin was it? Or a Hufflepuff?" Sirius wrinkled his nose as he thought of the possibilities.

"No. It was a Gryffindor," she replied, grinning when he frowned.

"It wasn't Bell, was it?" Sirius asked, warily. The fifth year boy was the first one at Hogwarts to go on a date with Aidan.

"No. I only went on one date with him. He was boring as hell," Aidan replied. "Do you really want to know?"

"Bloody tell us, Blaze," James begged. "We're all dying to know." He waved a hand indicating all of them, plus the portraits lining the wall.

"Moony," she said quietly, looking up at Sirius.

He froze, staring at her with wide grey eyes. She looked back at him, waiting for a response. Not getting one right away, she turned to look at the others. James' mouth was open in shock and Peter looked a mix between excited and terrified. Aidan finally turned to Remus, whose face was as pink as hers was, and gave him an apologetic shrug, which he returned.

"You kissed _Moony_?" Sirius' voice had returned, louder than usual.

"Aye, I just said that," Aidan replied, her gaze snapping back to him.

"Why? Why would you snog Moony?" he asked, a mix of confusion, shock, and anger in his voice.

"Bloody hell, Padfoot, there's nothing wrong with him," Aidan jumped to Remus' defense. "And I didn't _snog_ him, I kissed him. We got caught under that bloody enchanted mistletoe that they put up in December."

"Oh," Sirius paused before rounding on Remus. "Why the hell didn't you tell me about that, Moony?"

Remus shrugged. "She asked me not to."

"What the hell? I thought you lot were my best mates? Why are you running around snogging each other and not telling me?" Sirius snapped, growing angrier by the minute.

"Shut up, Padfoot," Aidan retorted. "It's none of your business. In case you've forgotten, I wasn't going out with you back then."

"Still…." Sirius paused, not knowing what to say. "I still fancied you!"

"And how the hell was I supposed to know that?" she snapped, standing in front of him. "That's why I asked Moony not to tell you, you bloody gobshite. I fancied you and I didn't want you to think that I decided to go with your best mate."

"Oh," Sirius said. "Er, lucky for Moony, I suppose? I mean, if he had told me I would have kicked his scrawny arse to Scotland."

Remus snorted. "Like you could have."

"I agree with Moony," James put in, nodding. "He's faster than you." He explained as Sirius glared at him.

"So? Can we go find something to do?" Aidan raised an eyebrow as she fidgeted with the hood on her sweatshirt. "I'm bored."

"Hmm," Sirius approached her, grinning wickedly as she backed away from him and ended up pressed against the wall. He placed one hand on the wall beside her head and let the fingers of his other ghost across her neck as he trailed them down to her wrist. "I can think of a few things to do…."

"Padfoot, I'm not going to snog you when-"

Sirius cut her off, pressing his lips against hers. As always, when he kissed Aidan he lost all touch with reality; forgetting that they were in the middle of a corridor, surrounded by their friends. Despite her continued protests, Aidan's fingers were curled into the front of his robes, holding tightly.

"Padfoot," she gasped when he finally pulled back for air, turning away when he simply moved in for another kiss, "_Padfoot_."

"Mmmm," rather than backing off, he moved to nip at her neck.

"Prongs," she hissed, startling Sirius away from her.

"Prongs?" he said, disbelievingly. "Did you just say Prongs?"

"Aye," Aidan yanked her hands away from his. "I could have said Moony or Wormtail as well."

Sirius turned to see his three best friends staring at him, openmouthed. He felt his cheeks heat up and covered by giving them a roguish grin and winking. "And that gents, is how it's done."

Remus shook his head as James chuckled. Aidan used the distraction to slip by Sirius, brushing lightly against him, grinning as he tensed and fought the urge to grab her again and kiss her senseless.

"Let's go down to the lake," Aidan prodded, grinning and turning down the stairs when she received shrugs and mumbled acceptance from the rest. "I wanna see if Snivellus and Reg are up to anything again."

A slight frown furrowed Sirius' brow as he followed after her and glances at the others showed similar expressions of concern. Yeah, he'd like to know what they were up to but Aidan seemed weirdly invested in their actions lately. Maybe she was just looking for something to take her mind off recent events, but as they trailed out of the castle Sirius resolved to keep a closer eye on her.

**I genuinely don't even know what the point of that chapter was. Filler, I guess, since absolutely nothing happened and it added nothing at all to the story. My brain must have lost what little plot this story had to begin with. But I wrote it, so you get it.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Currently, this story is stuck in a ditch. I know where I want it to go, I just don't know how to get it there. (Ah, look there it is. I admitted defeat long ago :) Sorry it took me so long to realize it)**

**Chapter 16**

Sirius bounded up the stairs to his dormitory, cringing away from the odor seeping from his robes. "Hey, Prongs, do you have my-"

"Shhh!" James was laying on his stomach on the floor, filling out a diagram for Care of Magical Creatures.

"What?" Sirius frowned in confusion. It was well past noon, and all the other Marauders had been up for hours. James looked up and motioned toward Sirius' bed.

Sirius looked up and grinned as he saw Aidan sprawled on his bed, sleeping soundly. "When'd she come up here?"

"Around an hour after you left," James replied, scratching his nose with the tip of his quill, leaving a smudge of ink there. "Apparently Lily got a bit overexcited about the Transfiguration essay last night."

Sirius snorted as he kicked off his shoes and climbed onto his bed next to Aidan, laying down next to her. "She's a nutter, Prongs. I don't see why you're so obsessed."

"I wouldn't expect you to," James smiled.

Sirius rolled his eyes and turned back to Aidan, pressing his mouth against hers. She twitched and rolled onto her side, curling into a small ball. Sirius grinned and kissed her cheek, sniggering as she made a small grunting noise. When she didn't waken after this, he tried poking at her flanks, ducking away as her arm came up in a wild sweep.

"Bloody hell, don't _hit _me," Sirius said, bewildered. "I'm just trying to wake you up."

Aidan opened her eyes and blinked sleepily at him. He grinned down at her, puffing up with pride when she smiled back, sitting up next to him. Leaning in, he pressed a gentle kiss to her temple, grinning when she let out a contented noise.

"Hi, Padfoot," she yawned daintily, tongue curling like a cat's. "Sorry, I thought you were James."

"You wound me, trying to beat me," Sirius sniffed. "I require compensation for that you know."

Aidan rolled her eyes. "I'm almost afraid to ask. But I probably don't need to."

"She's got you all figured out, Padfoot," James chuckled before frowning at his parchment. "What age does a kelpie mature at?"

"Six," Aidan yawned.

"Really?" James looked up, startled by the quickness of her answer.

"I dunno," she shrugged. "Sounds feasible."

"Oh well, I don't care," James scrawled it down onto the parchment. "Why did I even bother to keep taking this class?"

"Same reason I did," Aidan replied. "We're dolts."

Sirius chuckled. "Good answer. Though it's a more accurate description of Prongs than of you."

"Thanks," she grinned combing his hair out of his eyes and tucking it behind his ear.

He smiled back, hugging her to his chest and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I love you."

"Well, I'll leave you to it," James rolled up his parchment and threw it on his bed before heading for the door. "Remember to use protection, yeah?" He ducked as a shoe flew his way, clipping him on the ear. "Ow!" Another shoe came at him, which he managed to duck under. "Stop throwing things at me!"

Aidan smiled sweetly at him and gave him a firm "No," before flinging another shoe at his head.

"Bloody hell, Blaze, I was just joking," James grabbed his pillow and held it in front of him like a shield as he backed toward the door.

Aidan glowered at him and stood up, stalking closer. Sirius couldn't hold back his laughter as James threw his pillow at her and bolted out the door.

"What's so funny?" She grinned as she turned back to Sirius.

"You," Sirius snorted. "Half the size of him and you scare the hell out of him."

Aidan shrugged. "It's not my fault he's a coward. Maybe he shouldn't say such things." She grinned mischievously.

"Mmmm," Sirius stood up and headed over to Aidan. "Maybe he shouldn't."

Aidan took a step back as he stopped in front of her. "What're you doing, Padfoot?"

"What d'you think I'm doing?" he said in a low voice as he took another step toward her. "We're finally alone. No other Marauders bothering us. I think you can figure it out."

"You mean we can finally have a conversation without being interrupted?" Aidan grinned, her eyes glinting as she ducked around Sirius and headed back to his bed.

He rolled his eyes and followed her, stopping at the edge of the bed and looking down at her. She grinned up at him, sitting cross-legged on the bed. "You know that's not what I meant."

Aidan pouted, her lower lip poking out. "You don't like talking to me? I thought you loved me."

"I do love you, Blaze," he said calmly, a smile curling his mouth as he realized she had given him the perfect opening. "So let's talk. What's up with your weird obsession with Snivellus and Reg? I mean, is there something I need to worry about, or are you just—"

"God, you're such a prat," Aidan rolled her eyes and shook her head before tugging him down into a firm kiss.

"Hey!" he protested, "you said you wanted to talk! Now honestly, what's up with you and Snivellus? You've been totally ready to stalk his arse around the castle for any reason lately, which is a bit odd."

"Nothing's going on," she sighed in response, shrugging unapologetically when Sirius gave her a suspicious look. "He insulted my brother. And _you_," she pinned him with a fierce glare, "stopped me from punching him in the face. So I'm going to whatever I can to get him back."

Sirius stared at her a moment longer before bobbing his head in acknowledgement. It made sense; he'd have been furious if someone had made a crack like that about a recently dead family member—assuming he had any he'd be sad to see pass—and yeah, they'd stopped Aidan from attacking Snape. Somehow, though, he got the feeling that it was something else entirely.

"You know you can talk to me, yeah?" he said earnestly, grinning sheepishly when she raised an eyebrow. "I know I'm not very good at it, but if something is bother you I'm always here."

"I know, Padfoot," her eyes softened and she pressed a gentle kiss to his mouth before flopping backwards and tugging Sirius down with her.

"Sorry," he muttered at her startled 'oof', sealing his mouth against hers again.

She hummed in response and he felt her arms curl around his shoulders as she returned the kiss. A shiver coursed through him as he felt her fingers card through his hair, tugging gently, and he pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Love you," he muttered, struck by the sudden urge to reaffirm his feelings.

She didn't answer verbally but the sweet smile she gave him said everything she didn't. Tucking her face against his neck, she clung to him fiercely and let out a shaky breath. She might not be willing to talk to him; at least she let him in somehow. Even if it was just physical affection and reassurance, it was something. He'd work on the rest later.

**Again, not much happened, but I really had no idea what to do with this. It was actually only about half as long to begin so I had to add something to round it out.**

**This is the last chapter I actually had written. I'm thinking about finishing it off, but I don't know that I'll have the time or motivation to do so. Please, let me know if you'd like me to try and finish it, or if you're interested in adopting it. If you want to adopt, I'd definitely have some stipulations, so review or send me a PM and we can talk. Thank you guys so much for sticking with me all the way through. I'm kind of amazed. :)**


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